Switching Places
by Nikkome Konno
Summary: "Look: Alchemy didn't exist. Nope. Not at all. So why the HELL did it work, and why the HELL does FMA actually exist! Damn it; I'm in Amestris? What type of overdone fanfiction did I get myself into!" All by a simple book. A book brought Ivy and Noah to the realm of FMA and it seems like they're a tad stranded. FMA isn't all rainbows and sunshine, as Ivy soon begins to realize...
1. BOOK ONE: Who Thought Reading Could Hurt

**Switching Places  
**"_Oh great. I ended up in Amestris? What kind of overdone fan fiction did I get myself into?"  
_**Book One: Who Thought Reading Could Hurt?  
****Chapter One: Switching Places  
**_**AKA: Why Did You Follow Me To The Library?**_

* * *

I ignored all the commotion around me and stuck my nose in my Full Metal Alchemist volume. I knew that I read the things about fifty-billion times, but, hey, I haven't been able to find a good book. And until I do, I'll settle with re-reading my favorite mangas. Last month I read my Inuyasha issues of 1-3. I needed the next few.

In the small distance I heard a teacher trying to calm down some kids at the further lunch benches who were causing some problems. It was pretty useless, though. As soon as I came for the new year all that's been is trouble. I don't care if it was 'a private school.' Private schools can be just as bad! And yes, that means I have to wear a school uniform. (Actually, it was quite fitting with all the anime I watch, but that's a different story.) I didn't particularly mind. It helped with girls to not be able to wear the shortest and tightest clothes to man and it stopped the guys from drooling over girls, so I was cool with it. Besides, with the small campus it was harder for people to pick on innocent kids and make out like crazy in certain places. Sometimes, I really hate middle school. Thank God this was my last month of eighth grade. Not that I'm saying high school would be any different—might be completely worse—but still it was a nice change of scenery.

"Hey! Otaku! Earth to Ivy!" I heard a familiar voice call out to me. I cautiously poked my eyes from behind the manga and was relieved to see that it was Jordan. She shrugged her strawberry-blonde locks behind her and looked at me with those bright green-blue, always changing eyes.

"Yes, my madam?" I asked in a fake sweet and proper tone, making her punch me in the arm.

"You were spacing out again," she said straightly.

I blinked my eyes and stared at my FMA book. "Oh...I was?" I asked.

"Yeah, the bell rang. What were you thinking of _this_ time?" Jordan teased. "Was it about Megan again?"

"No, no!" I said vehemently, just making her look at me in disbelief and a smirk adorning her face. "Why would I daydream _now_?!" Okay, before y'all think of anything, Megan is a GUY. And his real name is JR. We came up with the codename 'Akito' for him beforehand because he reminded me of Akito from Kodocha, but people found out who the code-name was for, so I came up with 'Megan' instead.

Hey, don't judge me! I couldn't think of anything and the name Megan so happened to be on a flier, so I said Megan, but Jordan laughed at me for it, and then it stuck, alright!

"Because you might be fantasizing," she teased, making me glare at her. "It's sad, though...You didn't get the chance to go out with him!" she pouted, making the corners of my mouth turn up into my stupid embarrassed smile.

"He doesn't like me back, remember?" I said, sighing. It still kind of bummed me out that it was an 'unrequited love' but, hey, I was just 13. I'm not in a rush to get a boyfriend. Having a crush on guy is hard enough, but actually going on a date? Alone? Awkward silence? That'd be more painful than being single! "Ah, I always have Edward!" I said, hugging the manga to my face. I looked at her smugly. "Maybe Alphonse too?"

"HEY! Al is mine!" she yelled teasingly, taking out the volume of mine she was reading. She stuck her tongue out at me playfully. "You said you wanted Ed, so I get Alphonse. Equivalent Exchange, no?"

I laughed. "That's just in your fan girl dreams!"

"Same goes for you!" she countered, nudging me in the ribs. "Anyway, we need to get you another book to read."

I smiled at her. "Yeah, yeah. I know. I'm going to the library today, so maybe I can find a book there." I snapped open the State Alchemist pocket watch that Jordan got me for my birthday and looked at the time. Only two more hours of putting up with school. I sighed in relief. I can at least tolerate _that._

* * *

I stepped off the bus, staring at my pocket watch the entire time and my iPod in my ears. I had managed to convince my dad to let me take the bus to the library and that he'd pick me up later. That was REALLY difficult to do considering how protective he is of me, but somehow I managed. I was trying to turn a corner when I heard some guys whistle. On instinct I stopped dead in my tracks, clenched my hands into fists, and turned around quickly to see who did that. "Excuse me?" I asked in a 'b' with an 'itch' tone.

When I saw the people who whistled, I immediately realized that they were drunk. I looked at the time. 5:00? Really? They went up and got drunk at 5:00?! I detested these types of people. The two drunken males staggered towards me, invading my personal space.

"What're ya doin' over here, girly?" the taller of the two slurred, putting his hand on the wall to support him.

Oh, shiatsu. Life lesson number one: When you hear guys whistle and/or yell back at you, you _never _respond to them. I just did the worst thing possible. I felt my legs start to wobble, but I swallowed and tried my best not to show any type of fear. Because if I did, that would be violating life lesson number two. I sucked up any petty objections my head was screaming and said, "That's none of your concern."

The shorter one with a serious beard chuckled. "None of our concern? A pretty thing like you shouldn't be walkin' 'round here alone." he wrapped his arm around my shoulders, almost making me vomit.

Okay, now I _know _that these two are REALLY drunk. First of all, I was 'a pretty little thing'? Do they know how old I was? I basically shoved his arm off of me, backing away slowly, hoping they wouldn't notice. Okay, now my courage was fading. I was starting to panic. Physical touch normally did freak me out about these situations. "I should be going, now..."

"Ah, come on! Stay here with us!" the taller of the two slurred again, advancing towards me.

I gulped and my legs failed me at that point. I fell backwards and onto my butt, chewing on my bottom lip as if it would help this situation. "T-That's not necessary..." I stammered, clenching my fists to make my hands stop shaking.

"HEY!" a voice shouted.

All three of us whipped our heads around. My eyes widened in surprise when I saw a boy, about my age, perhaps a year or two older, come up to me and hold out a hand. "I was looking all over for you! I was beginning to think you stood me up!" he exclaimed, hauling me up.

"U-Um, well..." I babbled hopelessly. Man, was I acting stupid today. He put his arm around my shoulders, and I immediately shrugged it off while glaring at him. "What're—"

He cut me off, putting a finger to his lips. I wondered what in the hell that meant and he said, "Hey, guys. My girlfriend here probably got lost; huh, baby?" He nudged me in the side.

I breathed out deeply, my anger starting to get the better of me. 'Baby'? Really? How many pervs _are_ there! Tightening my fists, I said nothing.

"This your chick?" the taller of the drunks questioned.

"Yeah, sorry for her causing trouble for you two. C'mon, baby, let's go," the boy said, pulling me away from the two drunks and somewhere else secluded. Aw, shiatsu, now this guy was going to try something? As soon as I was sure that I was far away from the two drunks, I immediately did what I had to. I reached into my skirt pocket and grabbed the one thing that I never had the need to use. (But now that I thought about it, I could've used it when those two drunks approached me._ Stupid, stupid, stupid!_) I clicked it open so that the blade was shown and pushed the boy away from me, using the pocket knife as a shield of some sort so he could back away.

"I'm not afraid to use this thing!" I said lamely, somehow keeping a voice of authority as I said so ('I'm not afraid to use this thing'? Really, Ivy? Stupid, stupid, stupid!). I saw the boy stiffen as he put his hands up in surrender and backed away from me and into the street. "You better not be one of those perverts that try to take advantage of girls like me! If so, I will _cut_ you!"

"W-whoa! Put the knife down!" he said, obviously getting nervous. Or irritated. I couldn't tell which.

I simply advanced towards him, my knife pointed at him. "I'm serious! I will CUT you if you try anything! My dad taught me how to kill with this thing!" That was somewhat of a lie, but I couldn't let him know it. In truth my dad just told me all the ways to kill with a knife. He never _showed _me how. I knew how to, but I also knew that I'd never have the guts to kill, or ever hurt, anybody. I'd probably die or get raped just because I was too scared to do anything with the weapon I was holding. However, the threat enough gets people to back off.

"I'll leave, just don't do anything you'll regret!" he said, taking steps back into the street. In the corner of my eye I saw a car approaching, and quickly, by the looks of it. I looked once at the boy and realized that he was backing _into _the street where the car was driving. "I'm leaving now, see? You can put it down, now."

I sucked in a breath of panic as I saw the car speed closer and closer. I shut my eyes quickly, and against the protests in my head, I threw the knife on the ground. "GET OUTTA THE STREET, YOU IDIOT!" I screamed, grabbing his shirt and pulling him towards me. We fell onto the sidewalk and the car simply sped by, shouting at us to watch where we were going. I opened my eyes then to see the boy breathing heavily in shock right next to me. I immediately turned defensive again. "J-just because I saved you, doesn't mean I'm not afraid to hurt you, got it?!" I said, my voice finally faltering.

"You saved me?" he said, blinking his eyes in confusion.

I furrowed my brows in frustration. "Why wouldn't I?" Just comprehending the words that came out of my mouth, I turned my head quickly. "Not that I wanted you to live of course! I-I just wanted to finish you off myself, if you were to take advantage of me!"

He chuckled, much to my confusion. "You can stop the whole 'tough girl' act. I'm not going to hurt you or anything."

I pursed my lips in irritation. While I was glad that he wasn't going to hurt me, I was ticked off by the fact that he thought I was _acting _as a tough girl. "How do you know it's an act?" I asked hotly, picking up my pocket knife and closing it.

"If you really wanted to hurt me, you wouldn't have saved me from the car," he said logically. He held out his hand. "I'm Noah."

Hesitantly I took his hand and let him haul me up. "Ivy Thompson," I introduced myself. "And are you sure that I can trust you?"

He gave me a quizzical look but I guessed he shrugged it off because he said, "Yeah."

That answer was good enough for me. I started walking off. "Well, nice to meet you, uh, Noah, but I gotta go to the library now."

"Oh, you're going to the library? So am I," Noah said, starting to walk in step with me. "Mind if I come with?"

I thought of it for little, and figured company couldn't hurt. Besides, I feel a heck of a lot safer with a guy with me. "Sure," I answered. Before the awkward silence would lapse between us, like it normally did when I first met someone, I asked, "Why did you say I was your girlfriend back there?"

His eyes widened suddenly. "Oh, so THAT'S why you thought I was a pervert!" he said, almost laughing. "I said that so those guys would back off. They normally do when they see the girl's taken."

Clarity started to form in my head as soon as he explained. That made _total _sense! Why didn't I notice before? Duh! Street-Smarts 101! "I'm so sorry," I said honestly. "I didn't mean to threaten you earlier...I wasn't using my head. Thank you for saving me."

"No, I should be thanking _you_! If it weren't for you, I'd be dead by now," he replied, smiling.

The library soon was in view and I was happy that I can go looking without being bothered by the fact that we just stand in awkward silence. I practically ran into the doors, hearing laughing tailing behind me. I figured that was Noah and shrugged it off, hoping to find books. On instinct I started going into the fantasy section, sorting through the books and checking which I might find interesting.

"You're into manga?" I heard Noah's voice and peered over my shoulder to look at him. In his hands was my FMA manga and he was flipping through the pages like a _maniac. _(Okay, not exactly like one, but I am VERY particular on how you treat any book of mine!) I snatched the manga out of his hands, trying to be as delicate as possible with the cover and pages.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" I shouted, earning glares from everyone inside. I shrunk under the intensity. "Sorry!" I whispered to the people inside.

He put his hands up in surrender again. "Whoa! Sorry, jeez, I didn't mean to offend you or anything."

I sighed, putting my book back into my backpack. "Sorry," I huffed. "I'm just really, really protective over these things. I like them looking like new, okay?"

He looked as though he was trying hard not to start laughing. "Alright, alright," he said and continued looking through the books. A few minutes passed and we started walking closer together, examining the titles and reading through the summaries to see if they were interesting enough to read. Soon enough though, we both reached out for the same book and our hands touched momentarily. (God, why did a cheesy moment that happens in those sappy romance movies just happen?) Just then I noticed that he didn't move his hand from mine and I took the courtesy of actually looking at him for the first time since I met Noah.

He had light brown hair that was messily assorted on his head. He had deep green eyes that suddenly seemed lit up with amusement as he looked back into my own chocolate brown ones. His lips were lifted into those cute-boy smirks that just make girls melt in the palm of their hands. He was a sizeable amount taller than me, towering _quite_ a few inches above me. But then again, I was a shorty. He had a lean frame that somehow seemed slightly muscular under his basic green tee that made his eyes seem even greener.

"Find something interesting?" he asked, making me snap out of my thoughts. My lips went up in its stupid embarrassed smile as I ripped my hand from his, feeling my face heat up considerably.

"I-I didn't mean to stare! I'm sorry!" I exclaimed pathetically, trying not to make eye contact. Man, how many times was I going to apologize today?

"_Okay_," he said, trying not to laugh. I was glad that he decided to drop the subject and felt my face cool back down. He pulled out the book we both reached to and opened it. "The Pathway to the Other Side by Violet Call," he announced, reading. " 'If there is something you should know, it is that there are things that are unexplainable. And these certain things have one thing in common: they are all from a different world'."

"Wait, what?" I asked, intrigued by the author. I peered over at the book that Noah was reading aloud. "From a different world?"

"Yeah," Noah laughed. "Ironically, this is supposed to be an autobiography. I checked the description. It sounds like a complete joke!"

"Hey, don't knock something until you try it!" I said jokingly, flipping to the last pages and avoiding the chapters of 'her experience in this world' and that her 'good friend saved her from a life of lies.' I looked at the next words.. " 'There was only one way I returned back to my world. First, I retrieved something that bound me to this world'." I looked around and tried to find something.

"What are you doing?" Noah asked.

"I'm following the directions," I said easily, a smile on my face. "Do you have anything 'bound to this world'?" He handed me a Fullmetal Alchemist manga that was on the shelf, and I shrugged and took it. " 'Next, place the item in this emblem on the page.' " A grin made its way on my face as I saw it. "Oh my flip, it looks like a transmutation circle!"

"A _what_?" Noah asked.

"A transmutation circle! Just like in Full Metal Alchemist!" I exclaimed. I deepened my voice and pretended to be the main character, Edward Elric. "Behold! I am the mighty Full Metal Alchemist! The genius prodigy and powerful State Alchemist! However...DON'T. CALL. ME. SMALL!" I said and clapped my hands, pressing them on the circle jokingly, the only thing going through my head Edward Elric and FMA.

What I expected to happen as nothing, _something_ did.

Purple sparks erupted from the transmutation circle I believed was fake and I felt something pulling at my hands. I just noticed the fake transmutation circle I made up on my bookmark glow a deep sapphire blue as well. At first I didn't register what was happening until I looked at Noah's horrified face. My eyes went wide in fear as I looked back. I didn't expect anything of what I was seeing. I was being _pulled _into the circle by tiny little black hands. I tried to scream, but nothing came out of my mouth as I was enveloped in shock.

"W-What's happening?" I heard Noah stutter.

I couldn't respond as I was being sucked into this transmutation circle from hell, tears running down my face in horror. I was vaguely aware of Noah putting his hand on my shoulder trying to drag me out when everything went black.

* * *

When I woke up, there was only one thing on my mind: Whatever I was laying on, was _very_ uncomfortable.

I propped myself on my elbows, finding that I was laying face down. That would explain some uncomfortable-ness, but not all. When I sat up, I was met with aching and sore muscles, more pain erupting from my left shoulder. I instinctively went up and massaged the damaged area. But at the moment, I'm pretty sure that's not exactly the main concern.

I sat up and tried to work out the kinks in my shoulder. That was when my eyes finally landed on my body. No doubt it was mine. Naturally tan skin, uniform on, bandages on the cuts I received when I had fallen at school. I stared down at my hands, finding the freckle in the middle of my left thumb. But that wasn't the problem.

It was _animated. _As if I were _drawn._

I started to breathe heavily as I felt my throat tighten up. Okay, okay; I was on the border of screaming my wits out. I didn't know where I was, I found out I was drawn, Noah's not with me—

Noah wasn't with me.

Okay, okay, maybe this is one of those dreams when I imagine I was in an anime. Yeah, that was it! I'm dreaming I was in anime! (So why wasn't I full of confidence and starting to walk around, trying to fulfill my mission of whatever my imagination has in store?)

For one, I can't remember even falling asleep. And normally in my dreams, there was _always _someone with me to go on my mission together. And I was kind of hoping that super cute Noah guy was going to be on the mission with me. (Wait. _What _did I just think about?) I looked down and saw that I was still in my school uniform. I looked back and found my backpack. In my dreams, I don't wear my uniform or have my backpack with me.

The only solution right now is that this _isn't_ a dream.

Okay, now was time to freak the crip out. "_HELLLLLLPPPP! ANYONE THERE!" _It was at that moment I actually looked around. It was a town, which one, I'm not sure. But it sort of reminded me of Crockett, my hometown. Everyone around me stared at me like I was crazy and continued on like nothing. I felt my face heat up in embarrassment as I tried to shrink into the crowd. Okay, screaming out in public and embarrassing myself _so_ did not help my mood. Suddenly a gust of wind picked up.

Blowing up my skirt.

I screamed and shoved my skirt down. But something was wrong. I _always_ wore shorts under my skirts! Why the heck don't I have my shorts anymore?! I looked down again and realized the height of my skirt as well. How the heck did it get so SHORT? It was _always_ at my knees! Now it's all the way up in the middle of my thighs, maybe shorter! Not only that, but my baggy polo shirt now clung to my body, defining all the curves that I _know_ I didn't have before.

WHAT THE HECK IS HAPPENING TO ME?

* * *

XoXo… Noah's POV …..XoXo

I woke up to the sound of multiple voices over me, somehow every subject about a boy laying on the street unconscious. It was then that I realized they were talking about me. I cracked open my eyes to be met with curious stares, all looking down on me. I quickly scanned the area I had apparently landed into and realized that it looked like a city, somewhat like San Francisco. I stood up quickly, ignoring my aching muscles and gave the crowd around me dirty looks.

I glared at all of them. "I decided to sleep in the street. What's it to _you!" _I called out to them, making them start and hurry along as if they didn't see anything. I sighed in relief. Well, one thing is solved. No one will try to mug me anymore with word going around that I was a delinquent who ran away from home.

Word travels fast around places like these. And working to my advantage, most of them would _always_ be rumors.

I stuffed my hands into my pockets, ignoring the small cold breeze that blew around here. So it really was just like San Francisco. Somehow, no matter how close to summer, keeping a cold breeze. I looked down at my hands, finding them not...normal. It sort of looked as though it were drawn. Well, time to figure something out. I walked over to a window and looked into the reflection it showed me. And it proved me correct. An animated boy's face stared right back at me. Nonetheless, _my_ face.

I had to admit, that was pretty damn cool.

Alright, what was the first thing I remember? Well, I went to the library with Ivy. We found this book about different worlds and whatnot; something crazy like that. After that, Ivy followed the instructions. That, what did she call it?, trans-whatever circle started pulling her and me through. And then I ended up here. If I'm here, and both me and Ivy got pulled in...

Where did Ivy go?

I groaned, figuring that some crazy shit was happening. Damn it! Why do things like this always happen to me? I sighed, putting my complaints behind me. The first priority is to find out where Ivy went. After that, we can try to find a way back home from...wherever this place is. I decided to ask around to find where I was; turns out this place is called Central City. (Wow. So original, guys. So original.)

Well, if this place was called Central City, it must be the central part of something, right? This must be the major city of wherever I'm at. I started walking aimlessly, trying to find some place I could stay for a while. When I looked around for an inn, I found a huge structure of some sort. What looked to be a normal building turned out to be a huge military base. I could tell by the military personnel guarding it. I smirked. This reminded me of all those times back home where me and my friends had to do dirt. I always made a pretty good diversion.

I did some things I'm not proud of. I don't think now's the time to go on a trip down memory lane.

I took a deep breath and messed up my hair a bit. I grabbed some water from a puddle I found and ran it down over my face to make it look like I was sweating. Then I started running at full speed towards the officers, my face full of panic. When I reached them, I simply grabbed hold of one of the officers' shoulders. "Damn it, why aren't you two doing anything?!" I yelled.

This immediately jarred them. "Why; what's wrong?" the officer asked in a nervous tone.

I jabbed my finger back in the direction I came from. "Over there! There was this gang and they took out guns! They threatened to kill us if we didn't give them what they wanted!"

"What are they trying to take?" the other officer asked, hand on my shoulder. I pretended to be trembling before he touched me to make it seem realistic.

"I don't know, but they grabbed a girl and is using her as a hostage!" They both gave me bewildered looks. I gave them most angry looking glares I could give with my new animated face. "DON'T JUST STAND THERE; _HURRY_!"

And like I planned, they started running after the supposed hostage-gang report I gave them. When they were out of sight, I sighed in relief and wiped my face free of the water I got from the puddle. At least now I could go in without being stopped for questioning. I walked to the receptionist. "Hey, who's in charge here?"

"Hm? Are _you_ supposed to be the one Colonel Mustang is meeting today?" the lady said with slight disgust when she saw me. I almost laughed. It was because that I was just a fifteen year old kid and I was to meet this important 'Colonel Mustang' guy that she was giving me those dirty looks. How typical.

Wait. That name seemed a bit familiar.

"Yeah, I am," I said, leaning so that my face was just an inch away from hers. "Is there something _wrong_ with that?"

She wrinkled her nose in disgust as she started dialing a number in her phone. "Colonel Mustang, someone is in for you," she said.

"_Alright. Send him in."_

I gave her a cheeky grin as I waved her goodbye. "Thank you, missy," I said and started off in the direction she pointed me to. I heard her call me a select few words and give me a dirty look when I left, but it was nothing compared to what I used to get.

I found big wooden and official looking doors, figuring this is where I should go. After all, this is normally how the doors look for a colonel. I should know. Before I was about to slam open the doors like I was used to, I stopped myself. This isn't the police station back at home, I had to remember. So instead I knocked.

"_Come in."_

Why is that voice so familiar?

I came in as asked and was met with incredulous stares. There was a fat man across a blonde with a cigarette dangling on his lips, a small Asian-looking guy with glasses tinkering with a radio, and a woman with piercing hazel eyes all staring at me. I didn't know what else to do, so I did what I normally would do. I waved at them with a grin on my face.

"Hey, how you doing?" I greeted all friendly-like.

The Asian guy blinked his eyes. "We're fine, and you?" He looked confused on how to answer me.

I sighed as I leaned back on the wall. "I've got to admit, I'm a bit lost..."

"_I_ could have told you that," someone snorted. Before I sent off a wise remark, I looked up to see a man at the desk in the back; black shaggy hair with matching black eyes staring back at me with appraising eyes in navy blue military garb.

It was then that I recognized where I was.

That man wasn't no ordinary colonel. That was Roy Mustang. And that only could mean one thing: I landed myself in Full Metal Alchemist. I stopped myself from groaning and face palming myself in front of the cast. Greeat. That stupid fortune-teller I went to yesterday _was_ right; weird things would and _did_ happen to me.

Well, I never said that things were impossible.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Mustang asked, eyes full of suspicion.

Well, what could I do at that point? There wasn't much to do but tell him straight out, was there? "My name's Noah Shasta," I started. "And I'll be blunt with you: I need your help."

"Oh? And why would I help a fourteen year old boy that just barged into my office?" Mustang asked with piqued interest.

"I'm _fifteen_ and because. I'm from the other side of the Gate," I said outright, making him and his subordinates rise from their chairs a bit. "I need to find my..." What could I call her? I just met her a couple of hours ago. "I need to find my friend. She came here with me and we need to get back home."

* * *

**Nikkome: Not bad for a first chapter I guess...**

**Ivy: You included yourself in this. Don't make me into a Mary Sue please.**

**Nikkome: I'M NOT TRYING TO. _YOU_ TRY WRITING SOMETIME!**

**Ivy: Well, since I'm you, I HAVE written before since you write, right?**

**Nikkome: ...Myself is a smart aleck. How lovely. This should be fun...**

**Ivy: Until Next Chap!**

**Nikkome: **=:D


	2. Finding a Way

**Chapter Two: Finding A Way  
**_**AKA: What Did We Get Ourselves Into?**_

* * *

XoXo…. Ivy's POV …XoXo

Well, this is just lovely.

I know that I have no sense of direction, but this is just _ridiculous. _I had been walking around trying to find some place to where I can sleep, but then realizing I have _no_ money whatsoever, I figured that was not possible. Then I tried finding a temple or something, figuring that those people let people like me sleep the night. Then, after realizing _that_ option was completely void, I tried to find a bench of some sort that seemed safe to sleep the night without getting mugged and/or raped/kidnapped.

Yeah, yeah. I know. I'm too paranoid. I get that a lot.

I stopped dead in my tracks. Well, I'm stupid. I have a backpack, don't I? I took off the backpack and dropped to the floor, bending down and unzipping it to see the items I have. Okay, let's see here...School books? Check. My SSR book? Check. My pencil bag? Check. A bunch of other useless items to me in my current situation? Check.

I fell back on my butt as I groaned up into the sky. Why, oh_, why _did I have to get sucked up into some wacko drawn world? And with nothing to help me or even guide me in the right direction? All I have are useless school books (Both of them science and history. Ew.) that I will now never get to learn anything from because I'm _pretty_ sure that my school is nowhere here. Wherever 'here' was.

Not to mention everything was drawn, making me think I got drugged or something. I mean, it just doesn't add up properly. Sure, I wished everything could be drawn like anime because it would be super duper cool to have it that way, but now that it is, I'm a tad shocked and not to mention very skeptical. I'm drugged. Simple as that. Whatever type of drug it is, it sure as hell doesn't make me walk on fracking sunshine!

I sucked up any complaint I had left, knowing that complaining will get me nowhere. (A perfectly good example of a lesson I learned from my dad, who so happily would punch me straight in the arm *and not playfully, may I add* if I ever did complain a lot.) Subconsciously I had a feeling of my dad's fist trying to connect to my arm (Maybe my jaw; Daddy said that I was getting old enough to withstand a hit to the face now) so I jumped away to my left.

Okay, before y'all think anything of what I just said, _no_ my dad does not abuse me. He just punches me _really _hard sometimes like my Papa (grandfather) did to him when he was younger so he could build stamina and good reflexes. All of my family were part of the military, so we were raised pretty different.

I took out my Full Metal Alchemist pocket watch that Jordan got me for my birthday and checked the time. It was getting late, so I should probably look for shelter quicker. If not, I'll have to sleep somewhere not as safe as I would like. (Huh. For once I was actually _glad_ that my dad raised me like he did; otherwise, I'd have no idea whatsoever of what to do.) However, before I forgot, I slipped my glasses case out of my backpack. I'll probably need it since it was getting darker and my eyesight was being a b with an itch at the moment.

"_You _are a State Alchemist?" I heard a voice ask in contempt. Oh, and did I mention? It was directly behind me.

I turned around slowly, vaguely recognizing the voice. I was about shocked in horror and a mixture of absolute denial. No, no, no. Oh nonono! Please, PLEASE not him! ANYONE but him! But of course, I have _horrible_ luck. And I was right about who owned the voice.

It was the one and only Scar.

I yelped in fear as I jumped back a little. "Oh, no! Nono!" I said immediately, not even caring about the fear that was showing in my voice. "Me? A State Alchemist? That's just RIDICULOUS!"

"You have the watch, young girl," Scar said numbly, obviously ignoring my babbling. "You are definitely a State Alchemist. I will soon reunite you with God."

"NO! NO! Please listen!" I screeched in panic. "T-This is a misunderstanding! This isn't the real watch! I just got it from a friend of mine! I SWEAR!"

I guess that Scar turned deaf in those few seconds I was babbling because he just lunged at me, his right hand extended for my face. I screamed in terror and scrambled onto my feet, grabbing my backpack and putting it in front of my face as a shield of some sort. My backpack just obliterated right before my eyes and turned into little ripped pieces of paper and fabric scattered in the air. I stared at Scar in horror.

"If you evade my divine judgment, you will only suffer," he said calmly. HOW THE HECK CAN HE BE SO CALM IN A SITUATION LIKE THIS?

I just screamed and scuttled as far away as I could manage from the crazy murderer. I didn't care anymore. I could care less about finding Noah, finding some shelter, or about my destroyed backpack. All I cared about was not getting killed by this guy. It only softly hit me of where I landed myself in this crazy drawn world. Scar? State Alchemists?

I was in Full Metal Alchemist.

No...impossible. It can't be because it doesn't EXIST. Things that don't EXIST don't, well, exist! It's impossible for me to be here, it's impossible for Scar to be here, it's impossible for us to be drawn, and it sure as hell is impossible for Alchemy to work! Look: Alchemy didn't exist. Nope. Not at all. So why the HELL did it work, and why the HELL does FMA actually exist!? Damn it; I'm in Amestris?! What type of overdone fanfiction did I get myself into!?

As my bad luck would just LOVE to have it, I found myself tripping over some random rock on the ground. (How anime-y can this get?!) I fell face first, and if you say that falling face first into the ground doesn't hurt, you're lying. And badly. I groaned in pain and propped myself on my hands and knees, trying to get up. But before I could, I heard the crunching of grass right behind me once again.

"I will give you only one moment to pray to God," Scar announced, cracking his hand.

Only one thought came to me at that moment: I was going to die!

* * *

XoXo… Noah's POV …XoXo

That was the moment that I got the most dirtiest looks that I have _ever_ seen in my life; and I had seen plenty of those in my small years.

Mustang simply stood up; the blonde chick following suit. "Detain him," he ordered and in a flash his crew surrounded me, blocking the door and locking it, stationed protectively over Mustang and menacingly over me. "Hawkeye." Without further ado, the deadly blonde cocked her gun and pointed it at my head. On cue, I held up my hands in the air. Not once did Mustang lower his icy glare; he kept it fixed on me, making sure to look right in my eyes. And I had to admit, it was intimidating me. And that was pretty tough to do considering.

"_What_ exactly do you mean, kid?" he asked in a lower and more authoritative voice. "And you are not leaving this room until you answer me."

I swallowed once to clear my throat. I hoped to God he didn't notice how nervous I was. "I meant exactly what I said; I'm from the other side of the Gate. And I need to find my friend and go back to my side before she gets hurt or anything." I had no fucking clue who was who—except for Mustang—and sure as shit had no clue why it was so damn hard to admit that I was from the other side of the Gate...

The Gate.

I felt the fear crawl up my neck again and I had to fight off a shiver as I felt my throat go dry. Flashes of everythign started sparking through my mind: the book, Mustang, the gun pressed to my head, the words of _'The Gate', _fear, blood, visions—and then blank. Just blankness. Nothing. Fucking nothing...

"You aren't doing _anything_ until you answer me," he said once again, his eyes as hard as steel. "What do you mean by you're from 'the other side of the Gate'?"

I swallowed once again. My mouth and throat was getting really dry and I don't know why. However, I couldn't let him see my fear coming through from what I hate from those two words. "W-well, you're an alchemist, right?" He nodded and I took that as a cue to continue. "So I'm assuming you know of the Gate, right?"

He narrowed his eyes again. "Only a select few alchemists know about it..." his tone changed into one of pity. And I hate to be pitied. "Have you performed the taboo?"

"The taboo?" I asked, my dislike for any type of authority growing the better of me. Not to mention the fact that he talked to me in such a pathetic way that I felt like punching him in the face. "I'm not one of those dumbasses who try to restore the dead! Do I _look_ like an idiot to you?! Because by the second you're starting to look like one yourself!"

He chuckled emptily and immediately I knew that I just dug myself my own grave. "You've got some courage; I like that about you." Even without him saying it, the blonde—Hawkeye was her name—stepped closer to me, actually touching the barrel to my head, making sure to tilt my head doing so. "In fact, you kind of remind me of myself when I was your age. Please do..._elaborate _on your story."

I swallowed once more, feeling sweat trickle down my temple. I already dug myself a grave, might as well look down into it. "Give me a glass of water and let me sit down and you have yourself a deal of me telling you," I said as bravely as I could manage at the moment.

He glared at me once again, folding his arms over his chest. "How about you tell me now or you can die here?" he countered, signaling for Hawkeye to press the gun harder into my head.

I breathed in deeply, hoping to conjure up some strength from Grant, wherever he is right now. "If you kill me now you'll never know how the hell I got here. Not only will your higher ups put you in prison for killing a kid. And also with me dead, you'll never find the friend I was talking about." He stared at me as if challenging this, so I said, "I guarantee she won't tell you squat even if you do find her. Only I could make her say anything." That was a damn lie and I knew it, but thankfully I'm a pretty good liar. Who knows if Ivy will say anything to them; she seems to know this place—anime—whatever it is—better than anyone _I've_ ever met.

When I caught their incredulous stares, I compromised. "You can tie me to the chair with as many restraints you got if it makes you feel any better."

This seemed to satisfy him because he motioned to his subordinates and barked some orders to do exactly as I said.

* * *

When I said to tie me down, they took _full_ advantage of that request. My hands were bound by ropes along with the rest of my torso and my legs were strapped down to the legs of my chair. Were they that afraid that a stupid fifteen year old kid was going to try some crazy shit? Me, well, being me, I said it outright, "Don't you think this is a little overkill?"

"Oh, not at all," he said, smirking at me. I scowled at the sight of it. My scowl seemed to widen his smirk. "You're pretty gutsy, you know that? Walking in here and bargaining with your life knowing that you may not win. It's pretty admirable."

"Thanks, but no thanks," I said, making him cock an eyebrow. "I don't want someone's thanks who's in with the cops."

"You speak as though you have personal experience with the military," he stated questioningly. I just shrugged.

"You mind?" I asked, gesturing my glass of water. "I can't exactly drink it with my hands tied." At my explanation, he called a man called Jean Havoc over.

"Hold the glass for the kid," he ordered.

Havoc looked like he was hurt at the request. "Why do _I_ have to do it?" he complained. But once he looked at the colonel, he quickly held it out for me. I drank it happily.

Havoc put the glass down and I cleared my throat. Once I was sure that Havoc went back to his desk, I felt the knot they made at my hands. Damn. They were pretty thorough with their work, huh? But that didn't matter. I needed to get this knot out little by little. I felt a loose piece of rope and pulled on it. And I was happy to find that it loosened a little, too.

"You said you were from the other side of the Gate," Mustang started. "What exactly do you mean?"

"I mean what I say," I offered simply. I tugged at the rope again, trying not to move my torso so he wouldn't notice. He narrowed his eyes and I could tell he wanted more explanation than that. "I went to a library—"

"With that friend you came here with, I presume?" he asked. I nodded. "What's your friend's name?"

"Her name's Ivy," I answered.

"Can you describe her?" he asked. I looked at him in doubt and he put his hands up in innocence. "Once you finish your story, we'll be happy to help you find this friend of yours." I blinked in confusion. "_If_ we like what you have to offer."

I smirked back, gaining disapproving eyes. "Then to hell with that," I said, making the corner of his mouth twitch downward. "Shall I continue?" I asked, not meaning for it to sound as sarcastic as it did. He nodded. "So, we went to the library. Then we found this...book."

"A book?" Mustang repeated.

"Yeah," I confirmed. "Ivy said that there was something called a...trans-whatever and she started imitating this guy called the Full Metal Alchemist. She clapped her hands and touched it. Next thing I know, I'm here and she wasn't." I stared back at Mustang and I could tell he was frustrated about the story. I didn't notice it before, but there were a bunch of windows behind him. And something was...weird about it. I swore I saw something. It was real quick so I couldn't see what it was. It was black and then it was gone. I tried to convince myself that it was just a bird, but then again, I could never kid myself. Not anymore, anyway.

"A transmutation circle," Mustang suddenly said.

"A what?"

"A transmutation circle," he clarified. "That circle you found in the book? It was probably a transmutation circle." He then smirked. "Since this Ivy girl imitated the 'Full Metal Alchemist', I'm assuming she knows about alchemy. Especially if she touched it and you two ended up here."

"Oh yeah, about the trans-whatever, it glowed and sucked us in," I said, making his eyes widen. "What?"

"I've never heard of a transmutation circle like that..." he said cupping his chin in thought. While he thought, I messed with the rope a little. It got even looser. He looked at me. "Do you remember the name of the book?"

"Um..." I said, stalling so I could untie the ropes. "I think it was something like...Something, something 'The Other Side'. Can't remember anything else." I felt the ropes sag. Score! I untied it! My hands were free!

"Do you know the author?" he asked again. I shook my head.

"Hey, can I get a drink?" I asked, gesturing to the glass of water again.

He just looked at me with a straight face. "Why don't _you_ get it? Your hands are free, right?"

That stopped me. "How did you know?" I asked, snaking my hands out and grabbing the glass, taking a sip. He just shrugged and I couldn't help but smile. He reminded me of me. And he also said that I reminded me of him when he was my age. Somehow I felt like I could trust him. I think it's because he's like me that I'd naturally trust him. But normally I wouldn't trust someone like myself, either. "So, are you going to help me, or what?"

"Straightforward. I like that," he said smugly, the same smirk still on his face. "Putting into account that you don't seem like a threat, sure. I'll help you."

"But colonel—!" Hawkeye interjected, standing up. Mustang held up a hand to silence her.

"Don't get me wrong. I'm not helping _you_ in any circumstance," he said, making me raise an eyebrow. "It seems to me that this Ivy girl is the one who knows what's going on. I have a few choice questions to ask her."

"Just to let you know, if you hurt her or anything, I'll consider you an enemy," I said, giving him a dirty look. His smirk widened.

"Of course you will. Because that's what I'd do," he said, laughing to himself about it. For some reason that pissed me off a little. "Alright then; give me her description."

"She's pretty short, got brown hair and brown eyes, kind of Asian-looking, but not really..." I listed off. Mustang looked at me weird and I realized he has no idea what Asian meant. "She looks mixed," I clarified. "And has tan skin. I think she's thirteen or something. Oh! And she wears a school uniform."

"Okay then..." Mustang said as he wrote everything I said down. He then snapped his head up as he looked at his crew. "Ask around and search for a short, thirteen year old female who looks mixed and wears a school uniform. That's an order!"

They all stood up and saluted him shouting, "Yes, sir!"

* * *

XoXo… Ivy's POV …XoXo

When Scar advanced towards me, all I could manage was scream. I was terrified. My mind conjured up the pain and image of my impending death, adding onto my fear. But...but this isn't what's supposed to happen! I'm supposed to meet up with Ed and Al, tag along with their missions, be friends with everyone, find Noah and live happily ever after! Isn't that how these type of stories go? Everything falling into place while one enemy shows up and is defeated somehow easily? But no. I'm alone, terrified, and about to die.

_I didn't want to die._

Suddenly I felt something burst inside of me. I didn't know what it was, but it just happened. "_Wait! No! Stop; hold on_!" I screamed, hands in front of me to stop him somehow; as if it would help me. "You can't kill me! I'm not a State Alchemist!"

"But you have the watch," Scar said simply, pointing to the pocket watch dangling on my hip.

"It's a fake! A phony, plastic, fake!" I didn't even care that I knew that Scar didn't know what plastic was, but I continued on. "I'm not from here! My home is in Crockett California! I come from America! It's like a whole other dimension!" I wasn't sure if he believed me due to the confused look he had on his face, but my babbling did make him lower his hand from my head.

"Explain."

I nodded eagerly, tears swelling up in my eyes. "I was going to a library with this really cute guy I met named Noah and we were like 'hey! What the flip is this book about?' and Noah was all 'Psh! This can't be real,' and I was like, 'hey! Don't knock it till you try it!' and so I started following these instructions in the book and it said to put something from our world in this transmutation circle thingy so I was all like 'Oh my flip! It's a transmutation circle!' So I pretended to do alchemy and clapped my hands, but it started working!"

I looked up to see Scar staring at me and I panicked under the pressure, continuing. "So it started pulling us in and then I ended up here all sore and shiatsu like that and then I'm all like, 'Why the flip is my skirt so short! And where's Noah?' and then you showed up all, 'I'm going to kill you now because you have a pocket watch' and so I was like 'Noooo! Please don't!' and now I'm here with you about to kill me!"

I finished my story, panting. I hadn't realized I wasn't taking breaths in between my explanation. I swallowed, staring right into the scarred man's eyes. I really didn't want to, but I remembered in the manga (Spoiler Alert!) that when he looked into Winry's eyes after he admitted to killing her parents, he stopped momentarily.

Suddenly I saw an opening. I was a wimp _and_ a chicken, yet I knew I had to take this chance. I sucked up any feeble doubts and scrambled up, running at full speed away from the crazy and now confused killer.

"You will not escape!" I heard Scar shout and the ground beneath me shot into razor sharp pillars of rock. One of the rock pillars shot up and cut me through my right arm, making me screech in pain. My overdue tears flowed down my face but I continued to run, and strangely, Scar didn't come after me.

After a few minutes I stopped running, stumbling along the dirt path and using buildings as leverage. I squeezed my wound tight, making me wince in pain. I didn't care. I needed the blood flow to stop. I released my arm once and looked down at my hand. I froze, staring at it. I lost a lot more blood than I thought I did. Suddenly I felt like throwing up. I always was too squeamish around wounds.

I looked behind me to see if Scar was there. And to my horror, I saw him running up. He was at a very long distance away, but I wanted nothing to do with him. I started running again, and I ran smack dab into something hard. I flew back with the impact and onto my butt, hearing a huge echo of hollow metal. My face stung with pain.

"Oh! I'm sorry," whoever I ran into apologized, turning around. To my complete surprise I saw a huge suit of armor which could only mean one person: it had to be Alphonse Elric. His eyes widened when he looked at me. "Your arm...!"

"A-Alphonse!" I cried out, jumping up and clinging to his armor for life. "H-He's after me! Help! Please!"

He looked confused but quickly shook it off as he looked at my arm again. "Who's after you?" I didn't have the courage to say the name and tears spilled over my cheeks again, coming quickly. He looked shocked but just turned around and yelled, "Brother!"

"What's up, Al?" I heard a familiar voice say. Next thing I know, _Edward Elric_ walked out from behind Alphonse, his golden eyes widening once he saw me. "What's wrong, little girl?"

More tears fell and my throat tightened so much that it hurt to talk. Why do they keep asking about it? I didn't _want_ to talk about it. I looked at them hopelessly. "Please...help me..." my voice was only above a whisper and racked with sobs.

It looked like Ed debated whether or not to press for more information. But when he looked behind me and at my face I guess it convinced him to help me. "Alright, come on," he said urgently. I nodded, but suddenly I felt so weak. I fell forward, nearly passing out right there. Ed caught me by my shoulders, making sure I wouldn't fall. "Whoa! Are you sure you're okay?"

I didn't know what else to say. "Thank you..." was all I remembered before passing out.

* * *

XoXo…Still Ivy's POV…XoXo

I woke up slowly, my head dizzy. Man...that was a _really _vivid dream. I could still feel the wound Scar gave me and my heart was still pounding. I mean, really? I went into Full Metal Alchemist and was attacked by Scar? What a nightmare...

"Are you okay?" I heard someone ask.

I turned my head with a smile on my face. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for asking!" But then my eyes widened as wide as saucers once I saw a gaping suit of armor. "_**ALPHONSE?!**"_ I screamed, despite myself. I stared in shock at the metal suit of armor that was Alphonse Elric, everything strangely drawn and real. Al looked at me weird.

"How do you know my name?" he asked.

"Um...well—I, uh—it's—" I cut myself off before I made a fool out of myself.

_This was real. That's Alphonse Elric sitting right across from me. Everything is drawn, just like the anime. I was attacked by Scar...all of this is real...But it can't be—!_

I changed the subject."What happened last night?"

"Last night? Well, you were attacked by Scar," he replied. I stared at him in disbelief. "You found me and Brother and was nearly hysterical. You fainted so we took you to this hospital."

"I...did?" I asked, quiet. If that really did happen...Yep. I was going insane. This dream went too far. "Hey, can you punch me in the jaw real quick?"

"WHAT?" he yelped in surprise. "I could never do that!"

I laughed emptily at his response. Well, then I guess this really is him. In my dreams, people would have no problem doing that. (Yeah...I don't have fun dreams) Despite my situation, I was actually feeling pretty calm. For some reason Alphonse sent off a really calm vibe. Nonetheless I was grateful for it. It helped calm down the hysteria growing slowly in the pit of my stomach. If I let it out now, I would be put in the mental facility or something. _This...was...real._ "I'm sorry...I just don't know how all of this can be real," I said honestly.

He seemed silent at that comment. After a few moments, he asked, "What's your name?"

I blinked. "_My_ name?" I asked stupidly. (Of course your name, stupid!) "I-It's Ivy Thompson."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ivy," he said politely, bowing his head in respect. "Sorry to ask, but...how did you know my name? I don't recall ever meeting you."

I flinched in shock. Well, he goes straight to the point, now doesn't he? I sighed. This is way too weird. I couldn't have possibly gone to Amestris. It just doesn't add up! But that transmutation circle in that book...it took me and Noah here, right?

Oh my god! That's right! Noah! Where is he? I need to find him really soon. Is he okay?! Hurt? Confused like I am? Oh god...

I looked up to see Alphonse looking at me hopefully. I bit my lip. What should I say? 'Oh, I'm from the other side of the Gate where there's this anime and manga about you and your brother. I know everything!' OF COURSE I WOULDN'T SAY THAT! "A friend of mine told me about you and the Full Metal Alchemist. But I guess Scar attacked me soon after," I lied. And I felt bad about it too. Why do I have to lie to Alphonse of all people?

"Oh, I see..." he said, believing me. He looked confused. "So, why did Scar go after you? You don't look like an alchemist or part of the military, either..."

I smiled. "Too young to be considered military? Yeah, I would hope so too," I said, despite not wanting to sound sarcastic. Thankfully it sounded lighthearted. "Um, well...Scar saw me with this." I held up the State Alchemist pocket watch.

He gasped. "How did you get it?" he asked in surprise.

"I-I don't really remember," I lied again, guilt starting to poke me in my conscience. "But I know that because of it I got attacked by Scar."

"Oh. Well, not to sound rude, but how did you think you even got your hands on that?" he asked, polite as ever. I was tempted to go out and hug him but I figured that wouldn't fly so well for my image to him.

"Aren't you the polite one?" I asked, smiling. Then I tried to come up with a lie...why can't I just tell him outright? Oh yeah...the risk of ruining the balance of the series, making all the good guys die, the bad people winning. All that jazz. Crappies...please don't REALLY have all those dangers in the anime, like the Homunculi and shizz like that! I'm having a hard enough time accepting Alphonse is real and I'm sitting here talking to him! "Um...I can't really remember anymore..." Aha! Amnesia case! Perfect!

"You can't remember?" Al asked.

"No, I can't for some odd reason..." _Liar! You're a liar!_ "I'm sorry..."

"No, it's alright," Alphonse said. "You might be traumatized with the run-in with Scar. It's only natural for you to not remember things when you are."

Suddenly the door swung open, revealing none other than Edward Elric. My cheeks immediately burned, and for some reason I knew I was blushing. (Does being in an anime make you blush even if you don't in real life?) Edward looked at me once and sympathy flashed through his eyes. "Hey..." he started awkwardly.

I smiled. "Hey," I replied back. He walked towards my bed and stood next to it, beside his brother. Suddenly I felt nervous. What CAN I say to someone who I thought wasn't real?! "Uh, sorry for...making you bring me here. It must've been a hassle..."

"Nah, it was okay. You weren't _that_ heavy," he answered. A vein bulged in my head for him putting emphasis on my 'heaviness.' "So, are you okay now?" he asked.

"Huh?" I said dumbly. (Wow. Am I stupid today or something?) "Oh, you mean my arm..." I lifted it once and I only felt a little bit of stinging. "It stings a little, but I don't think it's too deep of a cut...Thanks for bringing me to a hospital!" the last part kind of slipped out and I felt my cheeks burn again.

He shrugged with a smile. "It's no problem. After all, I'm not going to leave a girl alone and hurt," he said, smiling. At _me. _

I felt my cheeks burn considerably, and I just knew that my entire face was red. My lips went into its stupid embarrassed smile as I looked away. I don't know why, but I just felt a little bit of my fan girl side come out. He was so _cute! _EEK! WHAT AM I THINKING? How old is he?! Sixteen or something? You're THIRTEEN, Ivy! "Thanks..." I mumbled again.

He just chuckled and turned. "Well, if you're doing better now then I guess—"

"Wait! No; please don't go!" I said desperately, grabbing his coat. When he looked back, my face turned red again and I looked away. "A-Ah! I'm sorry; I didn't mean to! But, um..."

"What?" he asked, making me even more flustered.

_I'm alone, terrified, and hurt. My mentla state isn't going so well and I feel as though I'm put in some sort of fairytale land where I almost died, and the fairies here are mean and violent. I want to go into a hole, cry, shout, and just about fall apart. What I thought was fake is real, and I have no one else to support me. The only other person I know is missing, possibly dead. Hysteria is starting to form, and if you two leave, I feel like it may take over._

That was what I _wanted_ to say. But, of course, I didn't.

"Mind if I, uh..." I lowered my voice into a whisper. "Tag along?" One look at his incredulous face made me shake my head and wave my hands frantically. "Not that I just _want_ to! It's just that, well, after the whole Scar thing, I, um...W-What I mean is...I-I'd feel better if...Well, I'd feel better if I could travel with you guys, you know, to feel safer...?" They stared at me. "Until I find my friend again!" I added, as if it'd help my babbling.

One look at my face and Edward burst into laughter. "W-Wow, really?" he asked, mid laugh. After that, I felt really pathetic to even think that they'd accept.

Al nudged his brother in the ribs. "Brother..." he warned, making Ed stifle his laughter. But it didn't really go so well because he was still cracking up. He turned to me. "Aw, it's okay. We understand. It was just really cute the way you asked!"

Suddenly my face was on fire. Alphonse Elric...just...called me...cute! Hey, don't judge me! I don't get complimented often, and when I do, I don't know what to do!

"You're such a cute little school girl!"

Well, that crushed my spirit...

"Who you calling a little school girl!?" I yelled on instinct, annoyed that he would consider me of such. Just because I wear the stupid uniform means nothing! NOTHING! Ed grinned as he ruffled my hair.

"Sorry, little girl," Ed said to calm me down, but ruffling my hair really did NOT help my view on this.

"For your information, I'm almost fourteen!" I declared vehemently. Ed and Al looked at me in disbelief.

"Really?"

I glared at them. "You couldn't tell?" I asked hotly, putting emphasis on my chest by gesturing to it. Me puffing out my breasts certainly made Ed's face go red and Alphonse stiffen. "Do little girls really have boobs like this?" I asked bluntly.

"Point taken..." Al said quietly, looking away.

I sighed, figuring arguing about it wouldn't help me much. Or groping myself for that matter. "So, can I tag along? Please? It's only temporary!"

Ed sighed, looking at my pleading eyes. He seemed to debate on it. I gave him an innocent grin, making him roll his eyes. He ran a hand through his bangs. "...Fine. You can."

I let out the breath I was holding, and let out a stupid grin. I hugged Alphonse tightly, wincing when his chest plate squished my chest and basically rammed my head into steal but I muffled the pain by realeasing Al and hugging Edward tightly as well, burying my face in his chest. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I felt him stiffen on the hug. I guess he didn't know what to do with a little girl like me hugging him. So he patted my head awkwardly.

"You're...welcome?"

* * *

**Ivy: That would never happen.**

**Nikkome: YOU NEVER KNOW!**

**Ivy: All my responses were like you, but the entire situation is kind of off...You better justify it so I don't become a Mary Sue. I'll KILL you if you do make me one!**

**Nikkome: IF YOU THREATEN MY LIFE, YOU THREATEN YOUR OWN!**

**Ivy: QUIT USING YOURSELF AS A SHIELD!**

**Nikkome: YOU DON'T KNOW ME!**

**Ivy: that made no sense...**

**Nikkome: Until Next Chap! **=:D


	3. On The Bus

**Chapter Three: On the Bus**

_**AKA: Why Are People Being Bipolar?**_

* * *

I tried walking down the dirt road, enveloping the small town around me as much as I could. I learned that this place was Ashwell; the town in which I—once again, _thought_—I created. It was almost like I imagined it. Big and vibrant green trees engulfed all around the town, circling it as if it were to be a hidden secret. The thicket was so dense that it was nearly impossible to stare through the overgrowth of greenery around us, encasing us in a little pocket of a bustling quaint town. There were no streets—just a compact dirt ground that would kick up a little dust if someone were to run down the path or something, but I was definitely not going to run and get lost.

The town's center mainly consisted of small and somewhat old fashioned buildings popping up with a good distance between each other. It wasn't like San Francisco where'd the buildings would basically ram into each other and leave no room for any elbowing. There were only a few tall buildings—one being the hotel we were staying at—and the only other two seemed like they were for a school or hospital; I can't really tell.

Small dirt paths were strewn around the town, each and every one stringing into the thick forest where, I think, is where all the homes were. Over the tall treetops, you could faintly detect the smoke coming from chimneys. Not to mention the mountains dusted with snow and covered in misty clouds, keeping them and this town, once again, hidden. You could hear the bustle of the townspeople quite clearly, however if you decide to travel closer to the underbrush of the forest, the silence begins to wrap around you, encasing you in a peaceful state of mind with a small hindering feeling of mystery as you stare into the dark and dense wood.

I turned to my left where Alphonse was clambering along, making the wood seem not all that silent. He turned and nodded to me to acknowledge my presence and I smiled back. After that I continued my overactive searching of the wood's dark peaceful mystery and then at my feet as they hit the ground and walk. Edward had gone off to buy train tickets at the station and left Alphonse in charge of me. I offered to go explore the town and he happily obliged. So...I was traveling with the Elric Brothers. Back home, I would've gone all happy and do my impression of a Winry squeal and me and Jordan would share a little moment of freaking out loudly about going to the same high school, going to an anime convention, and just go all happy for no reason at all whatsoever. Hehe, if Jordan can see me now, she'd be going ballistic!

Jordan...

I would never see my best friend ever again. I mean, if I got stuck here of course!

Oh, who am I kidding...?

I'm stranded. Lost. Alone._ Scared. _I've never been away from home. Hell! I was stupid otaku Ivy: daddy's girl klutz who was way too damn useless at everything she did. The smell of fresh trees, the nearby farm, the smell of smoky cinnamon mixed with lavender and vanilla. A dog named Mowgli who'd happily greet me at the door while lick attacking my face and a fat cat named, well, Fat Cat who'd groan at me to refill his food bowl even though we both knew that he wouldn't get any until six o'clock. I've never been so far away from...

Home.

I wasn't home anymore. I had no one here, really. Well, there was Noah who was missing, and maybe—please don't be—dead. I am blindly attaching myself to Alphonse and Edward to help me find him. And, if he's alive, he's searching for me...

_Hopefully_ he's searching for me.

Damn it, Ivy...

Who am I kidding? Who would really care enough to try and find a useless little girl they just met? I certainly wouldn't (But I wasn't like everyone else, my dad would tell me. Feh. Big fat lie.) But here I was. Trying to find him, when who knows that he's not even giving one flying shiatsu about me.

"Ivy? Are you okay?" Al's voice jarred me out of my thoughts.

"Huh? What?" I asked, turning to him.

He made a noise of surprise. "You're crying," he said, a little worry seeping into his voice.

"I—wait, what?" I asked dumbly, reaching out and touching my face. When I pulled back, I found tears wetting my fingertips. Was I really crying? I can't start breaking down now! I can't—_won't _let my hysteria take over! I looked up to see Al and I panicked, turning around so he wouldn't see my face. "N-no I'm not! I...I got something in my eye is all!" I covered up pathetically and wiped my face clear of anything.

He sighed as we both reached to conscience stop. "You know it's okay to cry, you know," he said knowingly.

Anger lit up in me and I turned to face him. "No! I shouldn't cry in front of you or anyone else...It's a sign of weakness!" I declared determinedly, wiping my face clear of any remaining tears. "And I'm not weak! I refuse to be!" Next thing I know, he laughed. And that was the last thing I expected. I furrowed my brows together as I squinted my eyes. "Why are you laughing?"

"Nothing, nothing," he said, making me fume.

"Ah, c'mon!" I demanded vehemently, crossing my arms over my chest. When he kept laughing, I pursed my lips. "Please?" I whined childishly. When he started laughing even more, I got even more fed up. "Alphonse, don't laugh at me!" This of course just made him go into uncontrollable guffaws making me giggle a little and then start laughing along with him.

I laughed for the first time since I got here...And it felt good.

With a final chuckle, Alphonse asked, "Okay then Ivy, what do you want to do?"

I looked down and covered my face as much as I could with my bangs. And that was a lot. "Promise not to laugh at me?"

"Promise."

"Could we go shopping?"

* * *

We started walking down the dirt path of this town, away from the forest and more into the actual town. People, of course, stared at me and Alphonse and I started to shrink back under the awkwardness of it. I mean, I was a little girl/teen walking side-by-side a seven foot suit of armor. Of _course_ we'd get stared at, but I hadn't thought it would be this...awkward.

I accidentally bumped into this one girl who looked about two years older than me. Her long black hair flowed down to the middle of her back and her slightly tan skin had freckles decorating the bridge of her nose. When she looked up at me and locked her amber eyes with my chocolate brown ones, I felt my face burn with embarrassment. She laughed a little while re-clipping her hair/bangs to the side with a barrette. "Oh, I'm sorry. I should've been paying more attention to where I was walking," she apologized in that delicate and soft voice those really sweet and nice girls have.

I shook my head rapidly. "No, no! Really, it's fine, I should've looked where I was going too," I said.

She smiled at me and bowed, me panicking slightly and bowing quickly after her. "Thank you for your kindness. It's refreshing to see a new face around here. I hope you like it here in Ashwell. Have a good day!" She chirped at me.

I smiled a really big, cheezy one. "T-thank you," I managed to get out. And with that, she started walking her way back down and I hurried to catch up with Alphonse, a new kick in my step at that one girl's kindness and even shared a few 'good afternoons' with the people we passed by, to which they responded back with a cheery reply.

Soon enough, we reached a small shop with cute little flowers carved into the wooden frames wherever it could be at on the outside. The big display windows on either side of the door showed the type of clothes it had. On one side it depicted the dressy type stuff; girly items. On the other it showed the more tomboy side of girl clothing and I smiled looking at the cool v-neck t-shirt with a hood on the back. I looked back at Alphonse.

"Is it alright to go in here...?" I asked timidly, still not one for any type of shopping.

He chuckled a little and patted my head. "Sure, go on ahead and get whatever you want or need. I'll pay."

I blinked my eyes in surprise, due to the fact that no one really _buys_ me stuff. "...You sure? You know you really don't have to—"

"Go ahead. It's fine," he shrugged me off and motioned for me to go into the shop.

I chewed on my bottom lip and nodded at him as I awkwardly passed through the door to the store, making the bell on the door jingle. I looked around feeling awkward as hell because I _hated_ shopping. I felt all self-conscious about the prices and what looks good or not—I never had the best fashion sense—I had to always confirm with Jordan to make sure what I picked out was at least okay for the public eye (which wasn't very often. I'm no good with anything girly). Now was somewhat of an exception; I could pick out weird things and it'd look pretty cool with my being drawn and all.

Which was still indescribably weird and a little scary.

Alphonse took a seat on a bench in the shop, close to the fitting rooms while I roamed around, dragging my fingers along to feel the different textures of the clothes I walked by.

I scooped up long sleeve shirts, t-shirts, tank tops, and a good warm black jacket that reached mid-thigh. After that I went up to the bottoms' section and got skirts, shorts, and pairs of jeans. I know skirts can be unconventional, but, well, it kinda reminds me of home. My mom always tried to get me to be all girly and stuff, so it's kinda like a memento from home. I also got myself a nice pair of steel-toe shoes with a packet of socks. Surprisingly, steel-toe shoes are really comfortable. (Who knew how long I'd be here?) I passed by this leather jacket that I considered getting but chose not to due to the already many items I had. I already felt a little guilt poke in the pit of my stomach from the lots of clothes I had but I made sure to go to the cheaper side of the store where things had discounts and the prices on the items weren't all that expensive. Well...I don't think it's expensive. I have no fracking clue what the worth of cens were!

Wait a minute...Leather jacket...what does that remind me of? *Light bulb goes off*

Fufufufu...I am an evil genius.

"Alphonse?" I called. He looked up. "I'm going to try out an outfit; can you tell me what you think?"

"Sure; I'll be waiting out here," he replied.

I grinned as I closed the curtain for the changing room. I changed quickly out of my school uniform and got the new ones ready. I put on leather pants that I had to shimmy myself into along with a navy blue tank top I found. Over that I put on an over jacket that looks VERY similar with a certain alchemist but didn't close the metal snap to it. After that I slipped on military boots and put my hair into a braid (which took a long time since I suck at anything pertaining to hair styling).

Got any idea yet? Well, let me tell you: I was the flipping female version of Edward Elric.

I walked out and crossed my arms over my chest while looking very pleased with myself. "Hey Al!" I said with a purposefully rude sounding voice. He turned to me and I swear I saw his jaw drop to the floor. "Who am I?"

Alphonse burst into laughter and I did too until my stomach hurt. "W-Where did you get that?"

I grinned. "I found a few things that looked like your brother's clothing and figured: why not? Think I should buy it?"

Al laughed again. "Maybe not. We wouldn't want Brother going ballistic at you for stealing his style."

I slumped my shoulders playfully. "Awww, what a shame..." I put a little thought into it as I looked back at what I got. "I'm still going to get the shoes though...You sure ya don't mind?"

Al smiled (I couldn't see it with him being a suit of armor and all, but I imagined he was). "Go ahead. It's your choice. I'm not stopping you," he replied.

I jumped up in happiness as I brought my clothing all the way to the cashier guy and Al paid for me. I felt kind of guilty because it was a lot of stuff, but Al said I shouldn't feel bad about it; that it was his treat. (He's SUCH a gentleman, isn't he?) There were a BUNCH of things that I wouldn't even consider wearing at home, but, as we all know, I'm not at home anymore. And thanks to everything being drawn, it looked pretty cool.

Alphonse reminded me to get some pajamas and I went and bought some (and to my embarrassment Al reminded me to buy underwear...Who knew he could be so blunt?) Along with that I bought another bra or a few...I made sure Alphonse wasn't looking of course.

When I thought the day was actually going great, something reminded me that it wasn't.

I felt like I was being watched. And it wasn't like those 'you're an odd girl and I'm wondering what you're going to do next' feelings I normally got. Or the famous 'what's a Catholic school girl doing here?' No. It was neither of them.

And yeah, I get both of those stares. Think people wouldn't stare at me because I was in a school uniform? Hoho, you're _deeply_ wrong.

I whirled around, looking for the cause through the overgrown trees and dark shadows. I heard Alphonse call out to me, but I had to ignore him as my eyes scanned through the thick wood. I think I saw something _whoosh_ by quickly as my sights landed on it. I jumped a little and blinked in surprise when it looked like I saw two violet eyes boring right into my own. W...what _was_ that?! As I stayed consumed in my own little fear at the black-whatever, I heard Alphonse's frantic calls ringing in my ears.

"Ivy! Ivy! IVY!" Al called, shaking me roughly and slightly in a small panic.

"HUH?! WHAA?" I exclaimed, overcome by his shaking. I lost my footing and fell straight down on the floor on my butt.

"Oh my...! I am so sorry, Ivy!" Al exclaimed, scooping me up quickly. But I guess he underestimated his strength because he pulled me straight into the air. "AHH! I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY!"

I screamed as I plummeted to the ground once more. This time, landing on my _face. _I groaned in pain and this just made Alphonse go into another freak out session. He aimed to pick me up again but I stopped him just in time. "I'M FINE!" I announced, putting a hand over my throbbing face. "I can get up on my own, see?" I did just as I said and dusted myself off, trying _so_ hard not to wince at my throbbing face.

"I am SO sorry, Ivy!" Al apologized again. It was weird. I never thought Al was one to spazz out like this. Then I thought more on it: it was because I was a 'small little girl' in his eyes. That's why he was treated me differently than I would have thought. In every fan fiction I read, Ed and Al were the same age as the OC. I, however, was three years younger than them. And that of course meant I was a little girl. Grrr, this is aggravating!

"Um, are you sure you're okay?" Al asked, gently putting a hand on my shoulder.

I realized then that I was glaring at nothing. I put on a smile but winced when my face groaned in protest. "Yeah, I'm just fantastic!" I said with over blown cheerfulness. He sweat dropped.

On the rest of the way back to the hotel Al made sure to keep his distance from me and carry my bags. I wondered if it was because he hurt me, or he was a little freaked out about my overly sarcastic reply. I aimed to apologize later.

* * *

XoXo… Noah's POV …XoXo

After a well loved interrogation— oh wait, excuse me— I mean 'questionnaire for search party use', I decided to walk around HQ. I was supposed to be with an escort, but I managed to slip by the guy named...Havoc? in due time. Now I was just walking aimlessly. The walls were a boring grey and it was unbelievably quiet in this place. All I heard was my shoes tap against the linoleum white floor and the lights above me were glaring horribly against the white tile floor, making it heard to stare at my feet as they walked. I turned a corner and nearly collided with this one chick.

"Oh, sorry," I managed to get out before she looked at me with questioning eyes.

"And who might you be?" she asked with appraising eyes. She looked kind of familiar but I brushed it off.

"I'm Noah Shasta. Colonel Mustang's helping me look for my friend that I lost," I replied easily.

She raised an eyebrow. "_Colonel Mustang _is helping you?"

"Um, yeah," I answered, realizing it wasn't normal for a Colonel of all people to help with a search party for some kid's friend. "He felt bad for me and decided to help me personally."

"I see..." she said, seeming to brush it off. "I'm Juliet Douglas. Pleased to meet you, Mr. Shasta."

"Oh, j-just call me Noah," I stuttered. Hey. It's not every day a hot older chick calls you Mister.

"If there's anything you need, don't hesitate to call," she said smiling and gave me a slip of paper. "It's my own _personal_ number. Possibly I may be of assistance to you in the long run. I might be able to help you find this friend of yours." And then she left.

My eyebrows shot into my forehead. Did that chick just...give me her number? I smiled to myself. I might just like it here after all.

And all of a sudden, I felt sick to my stomach and a flash of the blankness made itself known again.

The growing blob of uneasiness in my stomach started to boil in a little flip of fear, but I tried to shrug it off. I took a few deep breaths to center myself as I ignored any thoughts pertaining to _that_ and started to walk again, telling myself over and over again, _You'll get over it Shasta...Everything's okay, Shasta...Just breathe, Shasta, breathe..._

* * *

XoXo…Ivy's POV…XoXo

We practically skipped up the stairs, racing out the other and laughing and joking all around. I managed to get Al to cheer up a little on the way here and I proclaimed bodly as we entered the tall glass door of the building that 'the last one upstairs is a rotten egg' and then we began our race. I tripped a couple times over the dark maroon carpeting and had to use the wooden rail on the side to boost myself up again. My tripping over my feet, of course, helped Al get ahead of me and we basically slammed open the door, laughing and joking around when Edward's angry expression melted our joy.

"You two went _shopping_?" he asked, his face defined in a scowl as he saw our arms filled with bags.

I gulped. Alphonse came out from next to me and shook his hands in front of him. "We weren't _trying_ to be late! It's just that..." Oh yeah. Ed gave us a time limit on how long we could stay out because the train was probably going to be really early in the morning. All of a sudden, Ed gave him the most intense glare I have seen on his face and it made me and Al flinch and instantly shut up.

I bit my lip as I instantly knew this was my fault. If it weren't for me taking fifty billion years to shop because I felt so fracking awkward, we could have gotten here before Ed and Al wouldn't take the reprimanding from his older brother...I felt really, REALLY bad as I saw Al's frozen state.

"It's not Alphonse's fault!" I exclaimed suddenly. They both turned to look at me. Alphonse (I think) out of shock and Edward out of annoyance. "I...I knew that it might be a long time until I find my friend so that means that I'd have to travel with y'all a little while longer, right? So I figured I might as well stock up on clothes so I don't have to be wearing the _exact_ same clothes every flipping day..." Ed looked at me as if I were crazy, making me panic even more than what I was already doing. "I mean, that would be disgusting wearing the same underwear and all that all the time! And I'm a girl so I need to be clean down—"

"Alright, alright I get it!" Ed cut me off, his face reddening along with mine. Thank god he stopped me before I could finish my sentence. If I did, I might have just died of embarrassment right then and there. He sighed, running his hand through his bangs. "I understand your..._predicament_ concerning clothes. I'll let you off the hook for now, little girl."

I was relieved that he wasn't peeved at me, but him calling me 'little girl' didn't fly so well. He was giving me WAY too much leeway because of my age. And it made me feel all prissy and very annoyed. "Um, can you stop calling me that please?" I asked. "It's kinda annoying being called 'little' all the time—" At this Ed snorted "—and just because I'm younger than you doesn't mean anything. You could call me kid, or 'you', or even 'that girl', but please stop it with that 'little girl' thing, please? When I hear that I imagine a five year old or six year old and I'm thirteen—practically fourteen!"

I tried to make my request sound as non-rude as I could make it. He blinked his eyes as he stared at me. Then his eyes softened and he chuckled and ruffled my hair again. "You know, when you say things like the way you did, it's hard for me _not_ to call you a little girl." I glared at him. "If you stop trying to be polite all the time and Little Miss Perfect then maybe I won't call you that anymore."

I laughed nervously. He noticed? Whenever I meet people for the first time I tend to act way too innocent and sweet than normal. It's a bad flaw of mine. "So, if I loosen up ya won't call me little girl anymore?" He nodded. "Well, in that case can we go get something to eat? I'm starving!" As if on cue, my stomach growled.

Ed laughed. "Sure thing, kid. I'm hungry myself."

I beamed when he called me kid. Is it weird that I liked it when he said it?

We walked out of the room and, ONCE AGAIN, walked down the stairs. As we reached the bottom of the staircase, I hopped down onto the wooden floor and gazed around restlessly at the soft brown walls looking for the restaurant thing-y the hotel offered for its boarders. When Ed apparently caught sight of it and started walking away, I quickened my pace and followed behind him trying not to get left behind. When we entered, the smell of food hit my senses and I basked in all its glory. We passed by the small tables and booths with red cushions on the seats. We entered a booth and I sat across both Alphonse and Edward, grabbing my menu. I drooled over it and when the waiter came by I ordered the two things that I love: clam chowder and steak with mash potatoes. Ivy loves herself some clam chowder and steak with mash potatoes! As soon as the waiter gave us our food, I yelled out my thanks and immediately dug in, basically devouring my meal. I hadn't realized how hungry I was. Guess it made sense. I hadn't eaten in a long time...Actually, I can't really remember the last time I ate.

Ed and Al stared at me weirdly as I stuffed my face. "When I said to stop holding back, you must've held back a _lot_!" Ed exclaimed.

Suddenly I was very conscious of everything I did. I sat up with good posture as I wiped my face with my napkin. "Sorry for my table manners," I said, even though I was pretty dang sure I kept them throughout my devouring.

"No, not that..." Ed said uneasily.

I grinned up at them after I took a drink of my water. "Oh, I see! My dad always said, 'Eat everything because you never know when you may not eat again!' Besides, I can't remember the last time I ate," I explained. I looked at Ed questioningly as he left his plate of steak and mash potatoes untouched. "I thought you ate like this too? Except messier?"

I heard Al laugh and Ed stiffened. "How'd you know that?!" he exclaimed.

My smile faded. Ah, shitzu! Try to not make it obvious that you know about them, Ivy! I stuffed a spoonful of mash potatoes in my mouth as I tried to think of a reply. "Well, you're a guy, right? Don't all guys eat like that?" I said smoothly but decided to give Al a wink though. "Except for Al, of course."

Ed's brows rose. "And how do you know _that_?"

I shrugged. "Call it girl intuition!" Is it just me, or is lying getting easier? "Besides, Al doesn't eat."

Ed and Al stiffened uncomfortably. "T-That's because I'm not a big eater!" Al fidgeted. Ed nodded way too eagerly as if to confirm it.

I sighed. These guys need to learn to not act so nervous about Al being empty. If you try to be all suave and natural, people wouldn't suspect anything. I tightened my hand into a fist under the table.

And _I_ need to not act so nonchalant about this entire situation. I need to find out how I got here, how to get back, find Noah, and all the while not let Ed and Al find out about any of it. I bit my lip. This is going to be a lot more difficult than it sounds, I can tell.

"So...what's your name, anyway? You haven't told me," Ed voiced.

I jumped when he spoke. And then I nearly smacked myself. "You didn't introduce yourself? What an idiot!" I muttered to myself, staring at my half full plate.

"What was that?"

I looked back up at them and gave him a nervous smile to cover it up. "Oh, nothing!" I said quickly, hoping Ed didn't think I was a lunatic for talking to myself. "My name's Ivy. Ivy Thompson." I covered quickly. I tried changing subjects. "And _you're _the Full Metal Alchemist?"

Ed scowled. "Yeah, yeah; it's unbelievable right?" he asked sarcastically. "I'm the older brother even though Al's way taller than me and that you didn't think I was the Full Metal Alchemist because you imagined me as taller..." he grumbled under his breath, obviously overly annoyed at this

I was shocked at his words. Why did he seem so down about it?! That's not how I think of him! "No! I think you're perfect!" Even though I saw Ed's expression, I'm pretty sure mine was even more shocked than his. What. The. Flip. Did. I Just. SAY? GOD, Ivy! Might as well tell him that you are completely otaku and joked around with Jordan about Ed being mine, and Alphonse hers!

...Please do _not_ look at me like that. I'm embarrassed about it now; leave me alone.

"I'm...perfect?" Ed asked me incredulously.

I started, not knowing how to reply for once. "Well, yeah...Um, I mean, I-I'm a big fan of y-your work! Hero of the People? Alchemy prodigy? Amazing fighter—C'mon! Wouldn't think I haven't heard of you?" THANK YOU BRAIN FOR COMING UP WITH THAT. But I had to admit. All of what I said was completely true. Compared to him, I felt like a loser.

He smirked and I could tell that I just boosted his ego. "Well, well..." he said smiling to himself.

I snorted unintentionally. "Don't let that go to your head."

"I think it already did," Alphonse sighed.

"Anyway," Ed began, snapping out of his daze and glaring at his brother for his comment. "Why were you looking for us? Anything in particular?"

"Brother, you know she has amnesia," Al prodded, elbowing him in the ribs. Oh yeah. I had completely forgotten that I played for having amnesia in order to avoid some questions.

"Um, I can't remember a few things. But I do know one thing," I said, making them look up. "I lost a friend of mine. His name's Noah and before I can go back home I need to find him."

"Oh! Well, in that case, where's your hometown? We could escort you there and look for your friend and bring him back," Al offered.

"That's not possible!" I burst out. At that, Ed and Al looked at me odd again. "I mean, I can't remember where it is anymore...?"

They seemed to be really gullible because they believed me. I sighed when guilt poked at me again. Just what was I going to do? "Well, that sucks...Okay, then can you describe him?" Ed asked.

"Um..." My cheeks heated up just _thinking_ about describing him. "Well, he has shaggy brown hair and _really_ great green eyes. He's about a head taller than me, maybe taller than that and he has a medium build." Phew...That was a lot easier to say than I imagined it.

"Well, he shouldn't be hard to find," Ed smiled encouragingly though I know he was lying. There's a lot of people who fit that description. "We're heading over to Central anyway, so we could file a missing persons report there. Think you can wait until then?"

I nodded eagerly. "Yep! But if it's that's simple..." I looked down guiltily, remembering something. "All the clothes..."

Ed and Al laughed. "Keep them. It was our treat, anyway," Alphonse said easily. I grinned. Al was a lot nicer than I thought he would be. I ought to not take advantage of that.

* * *

I changed into some pj's and it was almost time to go to bed. I gathered all my things in the new suitcase Ed had made for me with alchemy (have you ever seen alchemy with your own eyes? It's so pretty!) I also made sure to be extra delicate with my glasses. I'd need them later. (Ed had given me the case when he handed me the suitcase. Said he was holding onto it for me. How sweet, right?) But to my horror I looked at the room: mahogany carpeting, wooden dressers and a little lamp on the nightstand but...

There was only one bed.

I felt a little panic rise in my chest at this and then snapped my head to Ed's direction when he cleared his throat. "Okay, kid, me and Al will be out on the couches. Just come and wake us up if you need anything," he said and turned to the door, and before he could touch the doorknob, I ran out and stepped in front of the door.

"No, no! You take the bed!" I insisted apprehensively, blocking the door with my arms outstretched to protect it.

He looked at me incredulously. "Don't be ridiculous. You take the bed."

He reached out for the doorknob again and I covered it. I shook my head, determined to not let this happen. "Nuh-uh. You take it."

He glared at me as he crossed his arms over his chest. "You've got to be kidding me, kid. You take it."

I shook my head again. "You're letting me stay with y'all _and_ you're letting me tag along with your travels? It's only common courtesy for me to let_ you _take the bed!" My honor was on the line here, and I wasn't bound to let anyone take it away from me. And I don't care if that 'anyone' was Edward Elric himself.

Ed looked at me exasperated. "Are you serious?" he asked me. "You know, you're the first girl I've met who refuses to take the bed."

"Well, then I guess that makes me special, now doesn't it."

"Yeah. Special as in mental. Take the bed."

"I resent that! And no, you take the bed."

"You are the weirdest girl I've ever met."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Well, it wasn't supposed to be."

"It's not how you say it, it's how I interpret it!"

"Take the bed."

"You take the bed."

"I'll just sleep on the floor if you don't."

"And if _you_ don't sleep in it, I'll scream 'rape'."

"...You wouldn't dare."

"Oh, oh! You just said the worst words to ever utter in my presence!" I took a deep breath in. "RAAA—"

"Alright, alright!" Ed stammered, slapping a hand over my mouth. His face was flushed red in embarrassment and I snickered. He glared at me. "I'll take the stupid bed. And for the record, for just a kid, you can be thoroughly difficult."

I smiled under his hand. "Why be difficult when with a little push I can be impossible?" I asked, making him roll his eyes and remove his hand from my lips. "Besides, if you didn't take the bed, my honor would be lost and it'll take forever to get back."

He tried to remain annoyed but it didn't help when a smirk spread through his lips. He tossed me a pillow. "Here. You're going to need it."

I smiled as I caught it and put it under my arm. "Goodnight, Edo kun!"

"What did you just call me?" he snapped, obviously annoyed.

I giggled, which for me, is the most girly thing you have ever heard in your life (Trust me. I hate it, but it comes out anyway.) "I was just saying goodnight, Ed."

He rolled his eyes in annoyance. "...Goodnight."

I shut the door behind me and turned to the living room. In my midst was a huge suit of armor reading a book. And said suit of armor turned and _looked _at me...I had to get used to that. "Brother didn't give you the bed? How rude of him!"

I shook my head, laughing a little at the dispute I had with him. "Oh, he did offer it. I felt it was rude of me to take the bed when you and Edward had done so much for me already."

"In other words, your pride was on the line?"

"Yep!" He laughed at me. Then a thought crossed me as my face heated with the. I looked down as I let my bangs cover my face. "Um..."

"Hm?" he asked.

"Do you, uh, mind if I sleep next to you?" I asked sheepishly. When I saw him stare at me, I panicked. "Um, it's just that back home I always had this dog—Mowgli is his name— that would curl up next to me when I slept and I kind of...well...I couldn't ever sleep without someone or something next to me anymore after that." I looked down shyly. "I know it's pathetic and you're probably laughing at me right now, but I swear it's true! And I know that this doesn't help my image with you as me being a stupid little girl who can't do anything on her own, but—"

"Come on," Al stopped my babbling, patting the spot next to him. "I won't guarantee to be the softest pillow, but at least you won't be alone."

I smiled. "No worries! I got my own pillow, see?" He chuckled as I walked over to him and curled up by his side on the warm brown couch. I put the pillow under my head as I leaned on Al's armor leg. Next thing I know, a blue, red, and yellow checkered quilt was draped over me. I looked up to see him with smiling glowing red orbs.

"I found it on the couch. This way you're not cold," he replied.

"Thanks," I said honestly. I curled the blanket up over my shoulders and snuggled into Alphonse again. My face heated up a little. "This is another reason why I refused the bed," I admitted sheepishly.

"If you would've asked, I'm pretty sure Brother would understand," he answered me.

The image of me curling up to Edward implanted itself in my mind. My cheeks burned and I ducked my head under the covers. "No, no! That's too embarrassing!"

I heard Al chuckle. "But he's perfect though, right?"

"Don't bring that up!" I snapped irritant, poking my eyes from under the blankets. Al laughed. "I'm embarrassed enough that I said that to his face and now you must torture me with that?"

"Aww! You're blushing!" he cooed, making me pull the covers over my head again. He snickered. "You have a crush on my Brother, don't you?"

That just about made my face go on fire. "W-What?! I do not!" I said vehemently.

"You do~! That's so cute!"

"S-Shut up, Al! I do not!" I said again, glaring up at him. For some reason I could tell that he was smiling. Then I knew it was futile to deny Alphonse of all people. He has Edward stubbornness if he admits it or not. "Okay, fine. Let's say that I have the smallest little girl of crushes on your brother. It doesn't mean anything though. It's just something out of looking up to him and all that. It doesn't really count as a crush. More like...he's someone I admire because of what he's done." Then I smirked up at him. "But it seems to me I should admire you more though."

"H-huh?" he asked.

"Well...you're really kind to me and protect me from your big brother's teasing and you make sure I'm okay all the time. You're really sweet, tall, and funny! Not to mention strong by what I've heard about the Elric Brothers. Why wouldn't I?" I asked, meaning every word I said. It seems like people don't give Alphonse enough credit for things. I mean, it's like he lives in his brother's shadow all the time. Maybe it's time for someone to compliment _Alphonse_ for once. He reminds me of me in that sense...Always in my parents' shadows. No one really knows me for what I've done, or gives me credit for anything...I"m just trying to get noticed.

It was even worse when my little sister was born...it was like I didn't even exist.

Al snorted. "Your admiration reminds me of a little sister looking up to her older brothers."

When he said that, it made me remember my little guilty contempt for my little sister. How she took away what little my mother offered me as affection... I looked down guiltily as my throat tightened up. "Please don't say that..." I accidentally let slip out and had to bite my tongue so I didn't say anything else.

He seemed to panic on my reply. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to offend you or anything!" he tried to apologize.

"No, it's not that..." I sighed. I blew a lock of hair out of my face. "It's just that..." I felt the tears start to swell up in my eyes. "I have a little sister back home..."

"Really?" Al asked. "That must be fun!"

"It _should_ be," I answered, reluctant to go in depth. "It's just..." I sighed. "It makes me remember my mom...how she was always distant to me, always criticizing me; judging how I had my hair, what I wore, which friends I had, what I liked to listen to...She recently gave birth to my little sister and after she was born, everything just got worse. It was like I didn't exist, and when I did exist, it was a disgrace that could never do anything right. All I could do was just stand by and, well, do nothing and try my hardest not to breathe..."

As I stared up at the ceiling, it occurred to me what I had said. I sprang up and pressed myself against the opposite end of the couch as I shook my head repeatedly and tried my hardest not to have eye contact. "I-I'm sorry! Why the hell did I just say that?! You don't care; what the hell was my brain thinking when I just blurted all that out?! I'm sorry! It was supposed to be said in my head, not out loud! Damn it, I'm so stupid!" I hit myself in the head. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" I sighed with my last hit. "Pretend like I never said any of that, okay? I-it's stupid; pretend like I never said it."

I felt Alphonse's eyes on me the whole time I sat on the other side of the couch and my chest started to tighten up and my throat felt like a big knot was in it. Water began to fill my eyes and I tried so hard not to blink, because if I did, I know a tear would have fallen. Goddamnit, why did I say all that?! A few more moments went by in silence until I heard Al clear his throat.

"Okay...It was never said," he said, making me look back at him in shock. He patted down on his lap where my pillow still was. "C'mon, it's getting late. Time to go to bed."

I insecurely made my toward Al again as I hesitantly laid back down, bringing the quilt over my shoulders again. I felt Al's hand press to my head and start to pet my my hair, smoothing it down. "So it never was said...?" I asked and was comforted by the way he patted my head. It reminded me of my mom...the good side of her.

"Yep," he answered, obviously not going to tell me anymore. "Get some sleep."

He didn't need to tell me twice. I was exhausted from everything...and I mean,_ everything_. All the stress, worry, fear, pain... "Goodnight, Alphonse..." I mumbled out of habit.

He hesitated. "Goodnight, Ivy," he said back.

Before I fell asleep I felt him stop patting my head and I reached up and grabbed his hand again and placed it back on my head. "Please don't stop doing that. It feels nice." I heard him laugh softly as he started to pet my head again.

* * *

XoXo…Elric's POV…XoXo

Alphonse looked down at the sleeping girl in his lap. He wondered how in the world she was comfortable sleeping on his armor, let alone how she slept soundly throughout the night with all that has happened to her. He knew for certain that Ivy hadn't had quite a traumatizing event ever happen to her, putting into account the way she went about everything openly. Especially after meeting Scar he figured that would do a number on her. She stirred slightly, squeezing her eyes shut tightly and beginning to stretch out her limbs.

She yawned. "G'morning, Alphonse..." she slurred, blinking rapidly to get consciousness back into her.

Alphonse began to feign yawning as well as he stretched his arms up. "Oh, Ivy," he yawned. "You woke me up."

He was supplied with a glare from her as she stood up and walked to the window. "I know you didn't sleep; you don't have to hide it," she remarked straightly, making him freeze in fear. How did she know? Was it possible that she knew that he was empty inside? Suddenly her eyes widened considerably as she looked away. "I mean, who sleeps in armor? You still have it on."

He loosened considerably after that but kept his shoulders tense. That was a close one. "Oh, ha, you caught me..." He wasn't sure whether she knew or was beyond innocent. To be honest, he had no clue. He figured it was best to leave her alone for the time being, just in case she would eventually find out on her own. She looked at him which could only be in either confusion or frustration when she looked down and bit her lip. She seemed to shake off whatever she was thinking of because she turned her head quickly.

"Mornings are beautiful, aren't they?" she asked absently, leaving Al to wonder if she asked him directly or asked herself. He decided to be silent. "Too bad it disrupts my good night's sleep..." She looked into the sunrise. Now he was certain she was talking to herself. "I'm going to go take a hot shower..." Then she whirled around and faced him. "Make sure to warn Edward that I am! I don't want him _or_ you walking in on me!" With that, she picked up her suitcase and dashed into the bathroom.

Alphonse stared after her in wonderment. He heard the shower turn on and a muffled, "Holy shizz on a cracker!" and some other rambling streaming from the door. She was definitely strange, that he'll give her.

Twenty minutes later, Ivy came bursting through the bathroom. Her hair was dripping wet and her hair turned into messy waves. "Oh, I just remembered! Do y'all have a kitchen here or something?" she asked urgently. He shook his head and instantly her mood seemed to shatter into pieces. "You don't...?" she asked dejectedly. Then she pouted, crossing her arms over her chest. She seemed to start yelling at herself. "Dang it! I was going to go make them breakfast, but _noo._ Fate seems to LOVE putting me in debt! And..." she rambled off.

She seemed to talk to herself a lot.

She wore a sailor style shirt with a black tie and matching pleated skirt. Her hair was down with a small braid going down her left side. Did she really buy that? "Why are you wearing those clothes?"

She looked at him with an incredulous expression. "Because I don't want to go stark naked...?" she answered in a 'duh' tone.

Al had to laugh at that. "No, I mean, the uniform style."

"Oh!" she seemed to perk up a bit. "Well, you and Edward have a really memorable look. I felt kind of weird going around in normal clothes with you two and I felt kind of out of place..." she screwed her face into frustration. "Basically if you two stood out, I wanted to stand out too."

For some reason, it just made Alphonse burst into laughter, making her look at him in frustration and confusion. "That was so—" his sentence was cut off by someone else's laughter. He looked up to see his elder brother cracking up as well, holding onto his stomach as if it were hurting.

"That's PRICELESS!" he laughed, tears coming to his eyes from the laughter.

She glared at them both pathetically. She crossed her arms, "What's so funny!"

"You want...to stand out with us, huh?" Ed asked, small chuckles still constant in his voice. "I think you stand out perfectly well already!"

"What's _that _supposed to mean?!" she snapped with a growing blush on her cheeks.

"It just proves how childish you really are," the blonde replied. She growled as she came after him, starting to chase him around the room.

"I AM NOT A CHILD!" She screeched, trying to strangle him. She was rewarded with more laughter, making her fume and increase her speed. "I'll have you know I am one of the top of my class!"

"That means nothing when you have ideologies like that!" Ed countered, angering her even more.

Al sighed. "Brother, quit teasing her," he reprimanded though he knew it was useless. He liked torturing the girl way too much. As he watched Ivy chase Ed around the room, Al remembered last night and what she had told him. He wasn't the only one to hear her; Edward had heard through his door. As soon as Ivy was asleep, Ed came out and Alphonse knew he had heard everything. He was just trying to cheer her up today.

* * *

XoXo….On the Train (Ivy's POV)….XoXo

"Wow!" I breathed, gazing at the scenery passing by in a blur. I heard a snort and I snapped my head to where it originated from. Ed stared at me in annoyance, his head resting on his palm.

"What's so special about it? It's just landscapes interchanging from one to the other in a passing blur due to the—"

"If you're trying to impress me by using scientific speech, it's not working. It just makes my head hurt," I stated, rubbing my temples.

He smirked. "Oh? What happened to miss 'I'm at the top of my class'?"

"I never said _I_ was the top of my class! I'm _one_ of them. Me and my friends Jr., Justin, Asha, and Stanley are at tie for it," I corrected him quickly. He gave me a questioning look and I just shrugged. "My friends are smart; so what?" When he still stared at me, I just rolled my eyes and continued to stare out the window.

I...love...trains!

* * *

"I...hate...trains..." I groaned, burying my face in my knees. I hated my chronic transportation-sickness.

"That's what you get for staring out the window forever," Ed commented, not helping my current mood. He tapped my arm, making me look up to see a glass of water and two tiny pills. I stared at them, making him sigh in frustration. "They're aspirin; I'm not going to drug you, if that's what you're thinking."

I lifted my head up, making my head start to spin again. I popped the pills quickly and gulped down the water in some kind of record. I deserve a medal for how fast I chugged that thing down! Suddenly I felt like people were staring at me again. But this time I heard whispers. I glanced up, seeing everyone we were near basically staring at me, and not even trying to hide it! That was quite rude, actually!

"Is she from Aerugo?"  
"No, no, she looks like she's from the eastern countries; like Xing!"  
"You can't leave out Creta!"

I sighed. Again, and again...have to deal with this. The debate on my heritage. I'm mixed, people! So. Fracking. What. It's nothing all that amazing! But as I looked all around I noticed they were all pure-blooded Amestrian; in other words: close minded to other heritages. Ughhh...Not _these_ types of people.

But all joking died within me in those few seconds someone looked at me in disgust.

"Who the hell let the mongrel on the train?" I heard some guy whisper, rather loudly; almost like he _wanted _me to hear.

I'm not stupid. I know what he meant. He was referring to me: I was of mixed heritage. I may not be from this side of the Gate, but hell, even I knew that some people were bound to be racist here; isn't that what the whole Ishbalan War was because of? Racism? It didn't help that I was pretty muddled: Half Filipino with a little of Chinese, Ukrainian, Basque, and Italian. (Yeah...it's a pain to describe myself to people) The whispers around me continued to grow, more getting harsher and more close-minded.

At that moment, I'm pretty sure I gave my shoes the most deadly-looking glare I could manage. I tightened my hands into fists so tight that my knuckles turned white. I started to shake in some emotion I couldn't comprehend; sadness, heart-break, anger, fury?

"Are you alright?" Alphonse asked softly, gently rubbing my back in soothing circles. I couldn't even feel it.

Suddenly the guy who had said the previous comment stood up and said some words that reminded me _so _much about my first encounter with racism. After that, he called out, "Get off the train, you dirty mutt!" he yelled out at me. His hatred made me cringe.

I tried to ignore him as I looked at Edward and Alphonse. "I'm fine," I lied; and that was the biggest lie I ever told. I never looked up at the brothers after that. My voice was soft. "I'm a cross-breed, mutt, mongrel—whatever y'all call it here. They're simply pointing it out...But it's okay. I don't care."

Al's hand stopped and Ed's breath hitched. All that was a damn lie and they _and_ I knew it. I didn't say any more, though I sure as hell _wanted _to. I wanted to cuss this guy out; I wanted to beat the crap out of him; I wanted to scream and cry and shout and basically throw myself off a cliff. I never dealt with this all that badly, though. In fact, I really didn't care one bit back at home. It didn't happen often, anyway. But somehow the looks these people gave me...so filled with hatred and disgust...I didn't know how to react.

Edward didn't say one word and neither did Alphonse. I don't blame them, either. I felt tears fill my eyes and I blinked them away. I don't care if I'm never going to see these people ever again; crying in front of people is a sign of weakness. And I don't want to be weak.

I hadn't noticed, but Edward had stood up and walked away, apparently. I didn't pay it much importance until I saw Ed pull back his fist and bash the man squarely in the nose with the most ferocity I have ever seen someone do. The man was blown back by a couple of feet and down on the ground, his entire face bleeding. It was so much different experiencing it in real life. I had thought seeing it on a screen was pretty ferocious, but seeing it in person had definitely made me freeze.

After that, Ed came strolling back to his seat with nothing more to say. He sat back in his seat and gazed out the window with bored eyes, ignoring the man's yells of pain. He looked at me with little expression change from boredom. "Your transportation-sickness blow over yet?"

That caught me off guard. "U-uh, yeah...I'm good now; I'm not dizzy anymore," I stammered. "But that man..."

"All I saw was a bastard shut up," He sighed as he stretched his arms over his head. "Man, I'm hungry...You hungry? I think I'm going to have myself a steak. What do you want? Get anything you want; I don't care. It's on me."

I immediately felt like a two ton truck was pushed off of me. I honestly was speechless. Ed, in whom I had only known for a small amount of time and he'd basically make fun of me while I returned the fire, cared enough to do...what he just did. Why...why would he do that for me? It didn't make sense. None at all. He barely knew me! Don't get me wrong, I was glad as hell that he did it! But I was so confused...what made him want to do that for me? "T-thank you..." I stuttered out, not sure what to do.

"Thank me for what? All I did was shut up a bastard, nothing more. How many times do I have to say it?" he asked bluntly, making me smile a little. I glanced at the man on the ground a pang went through my stomach and my smile faded. I sighed as I saw his pain filled blue eyes.

"...Do you have a handkerchief I can borrow?" I asked dryly, even though I hated myself for what I was about to do.

"Um...yeah, sure." He handed it to me, still looking at me in confusion for why I needed it.

"Thanks," I replied curtly and got up. Suddenly I was bursting with courage, and— dare I say it?— a little giddy? I was just so ecstatic that Ed would do that for me! And, with a little of guilt, I felt pretty good that he punched him in the nose that hard... I bent down to the man who was on the floor. "Hey."

"Shut the fuck up!" he snarled with hatred. I winced but refused to show it.

"Here." I handed him the handkerchief. He looked at it incredulously, staring at me in fury and confusion. I rolled my eyes. "The _mongrel _wants to give you a treat." I stood up, turned on heel and started to walk back, but stopped when the handkerchief landed at my feet.

"I don't want your filthy pity."

At that, the anger started to fill in me again and I whirled back around with fury—but not hatred—in my eyes as I bore my glare into his eyes. "Yeah; you're right," I said, suddenly a growing fire burning in my chest that I never had before. "I _am_ pitying you. You're a moronic bastard that decided to open his big ugly mouth and call me— ME—of all people a dirty-blooded whore. I'd say that deserves some pity, don't you think?" I asked sarcastically, walking back to my seat.

When I sat back down, Edward and Alphonse stared at each other and then back at me. I looked at them with my anger reaching my eyes. "Oh, _believe me_, I really, REALLY want to cut out his tongue, sear the wound closed so he can't talk, pour gasoline on his body and watch him in satisfaction as he slowly burns to death in a pit full of venomous snakes," I stated bluntly, OBVIOUSLY my anger still enveloping me. "But, my conscience wouldn't allow me to do such a thing. If I didn't say a word to him and didn't give him the stupid handkerchief I don't think I could have slept tonight."

I smiled when Ed and Al sweat dropped but didn't remove my gaze from the window. I don't care if they thought I was insane. I was just happy that they at least cared a _little _about me.

* * *

**Ivy: MARY SUE ALERT! MARY SUE ALERT!**

**Nikkome: SHUT UP, ME! I KNOW! I'M TRYING TO POINT OUT ALL MY FLAWS, SO NYAAAAHHHHH!**

**Ivy: JUSTIFY EVERYTHING THEN!**

**Nikkome: *eyeroll* OH YEAH! By the way, this actually happened to me. I was on the bus or was it a mall? I can't remember, but someone looked at me in disgust and told me to, quote, "Get out of here, you dirty-blooded whore. You don't belong here." un quote.**

**Ivy: Sigh I hate discrimination...Until Next Chap!**

**Nikkome: And please leave a review of what you think of Ivy, pretty please! I want to know if she's like a Mary Sue! **=:D


	4. Landslide of the Mind

**Chapter Four: Landslide of the Mind**

_**AKA: Why Does Fate Hate Me?**_

* * *

XoXo… Ivy's POV …XoXo

I sighed, content as I buried my face into my jacket that I used as a pillow. I could sleep practically anywhere, and I guess that's where me and Ed could relate to on that note. The hum of the train engine purred softly, vibrating through the train seat and calming me soothingly. I heard Ed's steady breathing and soft snoring, sleeping like I was, and Alphonse humming cheerily away as he did whatever he was doing. It was nice. It was somewhat _normal. _

_Nothing's normal...Jeez. Let's recap, shall we?_

I inwardly frowned as my inner voice came in, ringing through my mind. I really,_ really_ didn't want to think about anything. I was asleep, calm, and most importantly, NOT freaking out about anything. Dreaming away into the day was nice. I could picture myself in my dad's car, _Linkin Park_ blaring through the radio as he drove me off towards my mom's house to spend my weekend there. I hadn't visited my mom's in about a month. I needed to spend more time with my little sister, so I asked him to drop me off there.

_Wake up. You aren't at home anymore—you weren't at home for three days now! That's kinda stupid; to start denying reality.  
_At that, I finally opened my eyes but stared at nothing. I'm not denying anything.  
_Yes you are! Quit lying to yourself, Ivy. Your aren't at home, and never will return.  
_Yes I _will.  
__Not if you do keep doing nothing. You're injured already, stupid! Have you already forgotten Scar?  
_I grabbed at my arm, tugging at the white bandaging. It's basically healed already...It's fine.  
_You're not going home. Not anytime too soon. So stop pestering yourself with memories and fake-ass fantasies._

Something blasted throughout the train car, shaking it like an earthquake and bringing me out of my internal battle with my inner voice. I flew forward, slamming my head onto the further train seat, making me yelp in pain and crumple onto the floor in continuation of my fall. I snapped my head back up, wincing and rubbing it at the sudden pang of pain that hit my temple. I glared at the train seat in front of me in acusation. "Stupid seat...All its fault!" I mumbled, blaming the seat and train for my embarrassing fail.

Ed just laughed at me. "You fall sitting down. That deserves some sort of ribbon!" he chuckled, mock clapping for me. I felt my cheeks burn in embarrassment as I pressed my lips together in a firm line, trying to come up with some smart reply to that. When failing at thinking up of a clever comeback, I just glared at him and I punched his arm...

His METAL arm.

"HOLY GODDESS OF MOTHER EARTH!" I screamed in pain as I bounded up and started to pace all around, making up gibberish you usually do when you get hurt. Burning engulfed my knuckles and I made a little whimpering noise as I placed it near my heart. I glared when I heard him start laughing. "JUST SHUT UP!"

"You are so...stupid!" he cackled, holding his stomach from his laughter. At this point, I was getting a little miffed and decided on the logical thing to do: Violence. I growled as I kicked him again...

In his METAL leg.

"GODDESS DAMN IT!" I screeched. And before all y'all start saying 'oh my flip! That girl just cussed!' DO. NOT. START. WITH. ME. ABOUT. THAT! For the last time, damn is _not_ a cuss word! I could go on and on with a rant about it, but let me cut to the chase: In my dictionary, it doesn't count as cussing so _nya!_ "These are supposed to be_ steel_ toed! Why the hell does it still hurt?!"

"Did you kick it with the side of your foot?" Al offered.

Clarity started to form in my brain as I cursed at myself for my stupidity and made little growling noises at myself as well. I smakced the side of my head with each, "STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!" Ed howled into more laughter. "SHUT UP!" I snapped at him.

"No I will _not _shut up! That was too funny!"

I was starting to dislike him by the minute. (Huh. Maybe Jordan was right when she said me and Ed would hate each other if we ever met.)

"_All passengers, we apologise for the abrupt stop, however there has been a landslide on the train tracks. Please stay in your seats while we clean up the debris from the landslide. Thank you, and enjoy your ride," _the conductor announced through the speakers.

I didn't sweat it all that much, considering who I was travelling with, and brushed the announcement off with a shrug. Ed and Al seemed to be rather distraught though. Ed tossed his head back and let out a groan while raking a hand through his bangs.

"A landslide?" Ed groaned. "That's going to take _forever_ to clean up!"

I looked at them both with a confused expression. My brows furrowed, my eyes squinted, and the right corner of my lips turned upward in a wry and ironic half crooked smile. I shifted my eyes from the blonde, to the armour, to the blonde again. When they looked back at me in curiosity, it dawned on me why they looked at me like that. I let out a little bit of laughter and crossed my arms over my chest, my crooked smile turning up in amusement once again. "Really? Just...really?" I asked, giving them no time to argue as I hauled them both up on their feet and shoved them in the direction of the exit. Edward looked at me in indignation as I kept pushing them forward as gently but forcefully as I could.

"What?!" Ed snapped, having trouble keepign up with the pace I set up for them. Alphosne seemed to be doing fine, however his footfalls appeared even more loud and hollow than usual in the upbeat of movement.

"What, my butt! You know alchemy, don't you? Use that to clean up the stupid landslide!" I prodded, shoving them in that direction.

"Stop pushing!"

"If you move your feet faster, then I wouldn't have to! But still, SORRY!"

Truthfully, I just wanted to see alchemy again. It was so beautiful and elegant that I couldn't imagine anything more incredible. Sure, when I thought about it, I was tempted to ask them to teach me alchemy. Then again, they already did so much for me already. It'd be plain rude and taking advantage of them to ask them to teach me. Besides, I know the disasters alchemy could cause. And I'm kind of disaster-prone, and I don't want any exploding cities if I mess up one thing.

Besides, it's a science. And I _hate_ science.

* * *

Alchemy was as beautiful as I remembered it was.

The elegant burst of sapphire lightning danced all around as the remaining echo of clapping resounded in the air. The force of wind blew all around me, blowing my hair out of my face and lit up my eyes. The sparks bounced off the dirt covering the tracks, bringing themselves into tall walls on either side. The tall structures overshadowed the previous light from the azure lightning, however the sparks appeared even moreso illuminating as a bonfire with dancing shadows against the nightsky. I thought it was just about perfect.

But, of course, something had to remind me that it wasn't.

I hadn't noticed, but a low growling arose from my left, near the heaps of remaining landslide debris. I paid no mind, figuring that alchemy looked more interesting at the moment, and focused my attention on Edward and Alphonse. But when something lashed out and tackled me off of some sort of cliff, pushign all teh breath from my lungs did I actually pay attention.

I screamed, hearing the high pitched cry for help fade into echoes as I fell down and down to wherever the hell something tackled me to. I faintly heard some shouts of alarm come from above, but that didn't really concern me at the moment. I looked to what tackled me and I screamed again, this time one coming out more as a shriek. I did NOT like what I saw.

The huge head that was about the size of three of my heads put together (and I have a fairly large head) was some sort of crossbreed betweena crocodile and a mountain lion. Three spikes were on the end of its bushy tail, its fur on it mangled and matted. Talons sprouted from only four of the legs. And I say _only _four because there were two more. That's right; it had six legs. And the other two that didn't have talons, instead had webbed feet with claws. And on its back was that...frog legs? Ew.

We soon reached the cold and hard ground, my head rebounding off the earth in a _very_ uncomfortable fashion. I groaned in pain as I cradled my poor cranium, looking around for the creature that got knocked off of me in our rough landing. I looked myself over for more injuries, and surprisingly I had none except a few scratches and an aching headache; Ugly here must've been stupid and grabbed me with its webbed feet.

This was no time to be joking.

I looked over in fear as I saw Ugly rear its head and soon was charging forward, and me, being the most un-athletic person I know, couldn't move out of the way fast enough. It grabbed me with its talons and I screeched in pain as they sunk into my flesh, and using any strength I had to push Ugly off. Thankfully I managed to get it off when its freaking tail came out and whipped me right in the stomach! Ever been whipped in the stomach? It hurts!

I shook in pain, grabbing hold of my new wounds. Man do I hate Amestris so far. It's really uninviting! I looked at my hand and found blood staining it. Ugly growled again and I knew it was coming for another attack. Shiatsu. "Okay, be a nice little kitty...uh...crocodile thing and let Ivy go, ne? I'll be nice and never walk on your part of town again; fair enough, no?"

Ugly didn't listen to a word I said because it just snarled.

"Ah, shiatsu, that's not a good thing..." I murmured, trying to get prepared for the next attack. Well, however the hell you prepare for an attack. Arms up in defense? Legs free for running? I settled on both.

You think I'm handling this pretty well, huh? Yeah, ah ha ha, NO. I am NOT taking this well. What you're seeing is SHOCK and SARCASM. Nothing more, nothing less. I was scared out of my mind! I was _this_ close to running around a circle and going into hysterics!

Ugly came roaring back, charging at full speed with its mouth open and revealing its shiny and sharp incizors that enveloped each tooth. I didn't know what else to do and I panicked, looking for a weapon. I saw the chain dangling on my hip and decided on it, so I just came out with my fake state alchemist pocket watch and started spinning it around like a whip. When Ugly came too close, I whipped it at its head. It cried in pain when the chain hit its face and Ugly jumped back, whining. I looked down in surprise at my stupid little fake pocket watch and a plan started forming in my head. I started spinning the chain and watch again as menacingly as I could, trying to scare the chimera off with a sickening smirk on my face trying to hide the look of fear I wanted to show.

Okay, I know that was a stupid plan. I'd like to see YOU be in this position!

Ugly just roared again and came running back at me, fangs aimed at my face. I screamed, my tough facade fading and started waving the watch faster until I could hear it cutting the air and lashed it out at Ugly. Ugly, apparently getting annoyed at it, just whacked it out of my hand with a webbed claw and to the other side of the cave. My mind only thought one thing: Run. And so I ran, and ran, and ran, and I didn't even care that I was starting to get lost in these labyrinths of tunnels. I just didn't want Ugly coming near me at all.

I didn't stop running until I was sure that Ugly lost me. I dropped to my knees in exhaustion, sprawling out on the ground to regain my breath. If I didn't know any better I would've slept there until someone found me. I _hated _running. But then again, that option was a one in a million chance. I fell in some cave and I basically buried myself in a labyrinth; how the heck is someone supposed to find me here?

Then I got thinking: Why the heck did that chimera just decide to attack me? I mean, if the chimera still retained its animal instincts, it wouldn't have attacked me; more than likely it should have attacked Edward and Alphonse because of their alchemy changing the area. I was doing nothing, and I was near the train at the time. So why?

Now that I think about it, why anything? Why the heck was I brought here and why did that transmutation circle work in the first place? I know for sure I'm no alchemist and that alchemy is virtually impossible in my world.

Suddenly my stomach just had a sinking feeling overcome it. I hopped up on my feet and forced my legs to move farther away from where I originally was, even though they felt like boulders at the moment. I know that in a horror movie you _never _check out where a noise came from or where you got this "feeling." I was NOT going to be the first to die in this horror movie. When I began to start walking, the more the bad feeling overwhelmed me. Am I heading in the direction of where it came from?

Something black flew right past me and I had no time to react. A chilling chuckle echoed through the cave I was in, paralyzing me in place.

"My, my...what do we have here?" a smooth voice asked and I heard the soft purr in it. I started to tremble but clutched the hem of my skirt to prevent me from showing any fear. "A little schoolgirl found me."

I gulped as I whirled around to face her. I was met with her rolling dark waves of hair and deep violet eyes staring at me with a seductive smirk on her lips. "Lust," I voiced, looking her up and down in caution.

Her smirk dropped and was replaced with a frown. "How do you know my name, little girl?"

"Y-you're Lust, the Homunculus...The Ultimate Spear," I recalled, taking a step back, unable to stop the insane babble uttering from my lips. This seemed to deepen her frown. And why the hell did I just tell her all of that?!

"I asked you a question," she stated, taking a step closer to me as well. "How do you know my name and how do you know that I'm a homunculus? My power, nonetheless."

I smiled weakly. "I'm a smart kid...?"

This didn't satisfy her because she was instantly in front of me, one of her deadly fingers pointed at my throat. I let out a little scream that sounded more like a choking noise of a gasp. "I don't think you heard me," she started menacingly. "I asked you, _how do you know all of this?"_

"I-I, uh..." I babbled in fear. I gulped once as I reached out gently to touch her spear. "C-could we talk this out...?" I shut my mouth when I saw her deep glare, dropped my hand, and continued on. "I-I travel with the Elric Brothers!" Smooth...real smooth.

She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion but never let up her finger. "The little Full Metal boy and his younger brother told you about us, eh? But they don't know of us...Not to mention I haven't seen you with them..." Her eyes lit up in recognition. "Oh! You're the little mutt of a girl that Envy saw the suit of armor boy with yesterday, aren't you?"

I was annoyed by the fact that she referred to me as 'the mutt of a girl'. Is everyone in Amestris racist or something?! Then a thought occurred to me. "You mean that black thing I saw was Envy?" I asked in shock. Envy was there watching me and I didn't even know it!

She nodded and her smirk returned. "Why yes; aren't you a smart little girl?" I couldn't tell if that was sarcasm or not. "Unfortunately, I think you know too much for your own good..." Her spear dug into the side of my neck and I felt some blood trickle down. "Maybe I should get rid of you while I can. I don't want you to become a hindrance to our plans..."

My life was flashing before my eyes a second time and this time I was more prepared. I do _not_ want to die like this. "I know that you want to become human again!" I blurted out, not knowing what came over me. She seemed to flinch before she could kill me and I took this as an opening to start running.

I ran and ran at top speed, thanking the stars that I was a sprinter. I breathed heavily as I pounded down the tunnel and anywhere than where Lust was. What was I thinking, saying that?! Who knows if this was the first anime or manga Lust! I could have just confused her or pissed her off! Dang it, why am I such a dumbass?! My breathing hitched in my throat as I stopped dead in my tracks. Just when I thought my luck couldn't get any worse...

Ugly found me.

* * *

XoXo…. Edward and Alphonse POV …XoXo

Edward had just finished putting up the walls from the landslide debris, Alphonse following his completion soon after. He stood up and stretched his limbs and glanced back at the goofy little girl that kept staring right at their alchemy. He knew how much she loved it; he guessed that was why she was so persistent about him and Al fixing it with alchemy.

When he and Al looked over their shoulders to find the girl she opened her mouth to say something. But before she could say anything, a chimera lunged from what seemed like nowhere and tackled her into a trench embedded in the base of the cliff.

"IVY!" Both Ed and Al called in alarm as they sped after her. They reached the trench and stopped abruptly before they fell in as well, hearing the remnants of her screams fade into the cave.

"Damn it!" Ed cursed as he nearly jumped in after her.

"Brother, don't! You don't know where this will lead you!" Al tried to reason, grabbing his shoulder to prevent him from jumping in.

"Hell yeah I know where it'll lead! It'll lead me where that dumb kid is!" Ed retorted, trying to jump in again. Al stopped him again.

"What if you end up landing on her, Brother? You need some sort of light source, first! At least get that," Alphonse pleaded. As much as he wanted to go and save Ivy, they had to think rationally first. After all, who knew how ferocious the chimera was; as fast as they get down there, the faster it could attack her. "I'll go down there for now, you go and get a rope and a light source. I'll meet you down there, okay?"

Edward grumbled a few choice words under his breath but succumbed to his brother's pleads. "Fine, Al...I'll come as soon as possible."

He nodded and jumped down into the trench. It was a little while until he hit the floor, but he eventually did. He clamored onto the rock floor with a loud bang, landing perfectly. When he stood up straight, it didn't take long for a loud growling to be heard and a chimera to come flying at him. Al gasped once but briefly reached out and flipped the beast out of his range and into the wall. It whimpered loudly as it started running off into the direction of a tunnel.

Al pondered a bit when he didn't find Ivy. She couldn't have wandered too far in those few minutes. Al was about to follow after the chimera when something that shined obscured his attention and he walked up to it.

It was Ivy's State Alchemist Pocket Watch. So that meant that she was here not too long ago, accounting the time the watch gave him. But something was off about the watch. It was a lot less durable than his brother's was; almost like it wasn't made of steel which they all are. He looked on the back and saw in small letters _Full Metal Alchemist _imprinted in small words upside down. He found it odd that his Brother's title was engraved in it and he opened up the watch. The words inside it paralyzed him in shock.

_Don't forget_

_3. Oct. 11_

How did she know? How does she know about this date? Moreover, didn't she say she didn't remember where she got it from? Who knew about this date?! Ivy had a lot of explaining to do when he found her.

Not a moment later, his Brother came plummeting down and hit the floor roughly. He cried out in pain as the rest of the rope fell along with him. He glared up at the opening he came from. "Damn all climbing equipment!" he cursed under his breath, dusting himself off. Alphonse closed the pocket watch and put it behind his back.

"Brother! You made it!" Al exclaimed as if nothing were wrong.

Ed snorted. "Of course I made it. Why would you think I wouldn't?" Ed asked incredulously. One glance at his brother made him apprehensive at his very defensive stance. However, once the image of Ivy crossed his mind, he focused on the task at hand. "Anyway, we need to go find Ivy." Alphonse nodded eagerly.

"Oh...right! But..." He trailed off, fingering the watch behind his back.

"But what, Al?" Ed asked restlessly, fidgeting and leaning toward the tavern that would inevitably lead to where Ivy was, as she clearly was not here. Neither the chimera too.

Alphonse hesitated abruptly, debating with himself in panic. Maybe this was all a mistake. Maybe it wasn't Ivy's watch. Maybe it was Ed's. Yeah, that was it! It couldn't possibly be hers. However, as he trailed his eyes down to his brother's hip, all hope died within him. There was the chain of his watch...the one that wasn't in his hand. It was Ivy's. And she knew the date.

"Never mind, Brother. Let's go."

* * *

XoXo… Ivy's POV …XoXo

I looked in horror as Ugly bore his teeth and growled at me menacingly. I assumed a defensive stance, even though I knew damn well that I know nothing about fighting. What caught my attention though was that blood dripped down from its mouth. And it looked like its own blood. Poor guy...

What am I doing?! I can't feel sorry for the thing! It tried to kill me!

Ugly seemed to ignore its wound and charged at me, its tail raised. Hell no! I ain't falling for the same trick!

When its tail came at my body, I spun like they taught me to do in basketball and then did something that I never knew I was capable of doing...I hopped on its back. I screeched in grossness because of the frog legs that squirmed when I sat on them and just held onto its ears, trying not to get bucked off. Ugly roared as it tried to throw me off. I put him in a head lock, as I did many times to my friends back home, and pulled back, hearing the roar choke in its throat. I held it steady and put all my strength into holding it down. Maybe I could make it pass out or something. (Even though I had no idea how the choker hold even looked like...)

Ugly's tail came out and lashed at me, its spike tearing at the skin on my shoulder. I cried out in my pain as I let go of its head and it bucked me off. I flew roughly into the wall, my back taking the brunt of the attack. I sucked in abreath sharply and fell to the floor in a lifeless heap. The room began to spin and my head throbbed in pain, as well as my body felt mangled like a rag doll. I could barely hold myself back up, nonetheless run away. Hope died within me as I saw Ugly circle around me. I was ready to give up.

I heard a low chuckle come from my right and I raised my head to look at it. It was Lust, smirking at my now disheveled state. "You aren't much of a fighter, are you? Your moves are so clumsy," she commented snidely, making me glare up at her weakly. "You may want to hurry. It looks like the chimera is up for round two."

As I shifted my attention to Ugly, my fear returned to me and I cowered away from its sharp fangs and malevolent growls. Its tail dripped in some red substance, that I now realized was my own blood. Did I really bleed that badly? That would explain my lightheadedness perfectly, actually. Once Ugly lunged at me, jaw open, I managed to maneuver away from the attack, Ugly hitting the wall face first in the proccess. I could tell I was losing a lot of blood, because a little bubble of insane laughter bursted from my lips at that. Ugly growled and jumped onto me, banging my back to the ground and pinning me down at all sides with all six of its feet. Talons and claws and all.

Suddenly, looking up at the fangs aimed at my throat and dripping with blood already, a little flicker of fire ignited in my chest as a burning desire to live.

I hated this. I hated this so much, that I just wanted to give up. To give up and let the chimera chew off my face. Maybe this way I won't have to put up with this place—Amestris—anymore. But I was as stubborn as a mule. And my name was Ivy Thompson.

Thompson's _never_ quit.

I felt the inside of my pocket, flinching as I felt the bulge there and let out a breath of relief that I still had it with me. I took out the thing that I never used—_couldn't_ use and clicked the pocket knife at its point. I managed to raise my arm up to where I saw Ugly's big throat and, just like that, all rational thought I had blew out the window. It was as if my consciousness left me, and I ahd no soul. No morals and no thought. All I saw was red and the burning desire to live began to fill my chest and flow out to my entire body. At that instance, I didn't think or pause or hesitate or anything.

Nothing registered to me until I felt something drip on my cheek. I blinked rapidly, the red fading from my vision and I could fianlly see clearly. As I stared in front of me, I froze. Once again, all I saw was red. But it wasn't like the first time. My entire arm was engulfed in red liquid, some more of it seeping from the cut on the chimera's throat and splattering all over my chest and hands. My breathing became erratic and all I smelt was this metallic scent and all I could see was that red substance all over the place. I looked into Ugly's eyes and my vision became hazy and time became frozen.

Innocence. Fear._ Innocence and fear..._That was all I saw in Ugly's eyes. Nothing else.

As Ugly began to fall forward, I screamed and shoved it—no, _him _away from me at the same time of kicking him off to the side. Blood splattered my clothing and I scuttled as far as I could from him, trembling like a leaf. When I noticed that my hand still clutched the pocket knife tightly, I threw it across the stone floor. Any doubts that the beast was still alive was now gone and I cupped my head in my hands, my body hunched over in itself, screaming. Screaming and more screaming. Any fear for my life vanished and was replaced with immense guilt and sorrow for the creature I erased from life.

_I killed him. I killed him. I killed him._

I heard Lust's heels clack toward me and stop in front of me. She lifted me up from my collar and tears streamed down my face. "Congratulations; you survived the chimera," she said sarcastically.

I just cried harder as I sobbed, "I killed him...I ended his life and its all because of me...What did that chimera do to deserve this...? It didn't deserve to die...!"

Lust's face faltered as her eyes stared at me wavered. "Wait...You're crying because the chimera died...?" she asked in confusion. "I figured you'd be overjoyed."

"How can I!" I snapped, glaring into her wide violet eyes. I couldn't keep eye contact so I looked away as more tears fell. "I just killed something innocent for nothing...So if you're going to kill me, now's your chance...I don't have a weapon anymore and you've got me by my shirt...I can't escape..."

* * *

XoXo... Elric's POV ...XoXo

Edward and Alphonse were just about lost in the labyrinth of tunnels when a sharp shriek invaded the quiet air. In an instant they knew it was Ivy and they sped towards it, turning and taking corners to find the source of it. It was lucky that the screaming continued but wasn't good for what was happening to her at the moment.

"I hope she's okay..." Alphonse whispered as they neared the screaming.

Edward didn't respond but he hoped for the same thing. He just nodded, but Alphonse knew that he was worried as well. They turned one last time and was met with a horrifying scene. There was Ivy; covered in blood with tears streaming down her face...with a woman holding her up in the air.

"IVY!" Ed called, running towards the woman and aiming to kick her away. She dropped the girl and jumped out of the way just in time. She looked conflicted and confused as she glanced once back at Ivy, but nonetheless ran into the darkness of the tunnels. "HEY YOU—" Ed was stopped as he heard Ivy scream once more, hugging her body and shaking in sobs. He glowered into the direction the woman left but bent down to the young girl's level where Alphonse was holding her tightly.

"Ivy, it's us. You don't have to be scared anymore," Alphonse silently cooed, picking her up in his arms and holding her. "You can stop crying now."

"Y-you don't understand!" she suddenly screamed, burying her face in her hands. "I'm not afraid...I'm not afraid...I...I..."

"Yes?" Al asked patiently.

"No—I can't!" Ivy screamed desperately, never looking them in the eyes. Her tears trickled down her chin and onto the ground in excess. But this time, Alphonse noticed, she wasn't trying to hide them or wipe them away.

"Hey, kid," Ed started softly, bending down to be at her level. "We can't help you if you don't tell us what's wrong."

She looked up once and Ed got a good look at her face. It was the picture of despair and her eyes were consumed in regret and guilt. But he didn't know why. Why would she have the need to be guilty? Tears started to bubble over again and she fell into his chest, clutching his coat tightly, crying harder. "I...I did something terrible...terrible..._I'm terrible_...!"

"What?" he asked softly, patting her back and not knowing what to do at the moment. He was never good at comforting others.

She couldn't do anything more than sob more and more until he felt his shirt dampen. He looked off to where the dead carcass of the beast lay unmoving with a bloody pocket knife near its throat. Ed's eyes widened considerably as he knew what she was babbling about.

_She killed it..._ he thought instantly.

He held her tighter as he averted his eyes from the bloody carcass and softly stroked her hair as she cried and cried. He hasn't seen a girl cry so hard in his life, and he knew Ivy to be very prideful. Even Winry hasn't cried as profusely as now. But it seemed like she didn't give a damn about her reputation at the moment.

"I'm so sorry...I'm so sorry..." she whimpered, hiccupping.

Edward nodded. "Yeah...It's alright. Just let it all out." She was apologizing to the beast. He looked up at his younger brother to see his eyes glued to her. He took the courtesy to look her over as well to find that she was covered in blood, and it didn't look like the chimera's. Multiple wounds spread across her torso and arms and her physical state seemed to be terrible. And from the experience she just had, it didn't look like her mental state was in such a great condition either.

"We need to get her to a doctor, Brother," Alphonse voiced. Ed nodded.

"Yeah," he agreed. He tried to push Ivy off but it seemed that she didn't want to go. In fact, she screamed a little when he attempted to move her away. He sighed and gave in to the situation and carried her, hooking his hand underneath her knees and another wrapped around her shoulders. She was trembling like a leaf, but as soon as he brought her into the air, she passed out, still clutching his shirt tightly. He looked once back at the chimera and then shifted his gaze forward and walked, the only thought going through his head, _I need to get her out of here._

* * *

XoXo… Alphonse's POV …XoXo

Alphonse hadn't left Ivy's bedside ever since she was taken to the hospital. She hadn't woken up yet, but every now and then he'd see her face contort in fear and then back to a fitful sleep. He felt bad for her, but he needed to know...how did she know about that date? Even now he'd open up her watch and look at the date engraved in it.

Bandages wrapped around her torso and all the way up both her arms. It was a miracle how she didn't have any broken bones, but she did have some serious cuts and gouges in her shoulders and one on her stomach. Luckily she didn't suffer a concussion, but multiple wounds were embedded into her head, leading to the wrap around her forehead. She had a few bruised ribs, but other than that, her bones seemed to be alright.

She stirred once more and he looked back at her. Her eyelids fluttered open and she shot straight up, her breaths jagged. She learned to regret that, however, when she flinched in pain and planted her hands to her temples. "Ah...That wasn't a good idea..." she muttered, lying back down with her eyes squeezed shut.

"Oh! You're finally up," Alphonse announced, looking at her anxiously.

She looked over and opened up her chocolate brown eyes and stared up at him. She gave him an ironic smile, though it seemed to pain her to even lift the corners of her mouth. "Yeah, it seems like it," she answered. As she stared down at her hands, it looked as though amillion things ran through her mind and he found her trembling again. She snapped out of her daze as she shook her head roughly and looked around. It seemed like her eyes flashed with regret. "I'm in a hospital? For how long?"

"Uh, about two days," Al replied.

Her slightly slanted eyes widened in alarm. "What?!" she yelped. She hit herself in the head multiple times. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" She sighed and her always animated eyes seemed to simmer down into acceptance, however they still remained glazed over as he saw inner turmoil war each other between sorrow and guilt. Her voice was quiet. "I guess I just caused you and your brother more grief, huh?"

Alphonse shook his hands rapidly. "Oh no, no! It's not like that. It couldn't be helped." She stared at him for the longest while with confusion with her features contorted in puzzlement as well. She slumped her shoulders and her forced smile seemed even more painful for her to keep up.

"Yeah, my bad luck just LOVES me, doesn't it?" she asked sarcastically, her added laugh coming out forced. She breathed in deeply. "Sorry for making you stay here and wait. It must've been a hassle—" she cut him off before he could retort her 'hassle' comment. "And yes, I know that you don't consider me one, but if you look at the facts I definitely and positively _am_ one."

He decided to ignore that comment with underlying remourse embedded in it and they sat in silence for a small moment. The glazed-over daze she had acquired previously returned again, but this time she clutched the white covers tightly so that you could see her knuckles turn white.

He gazed around at the green-washed walls, decorated with nothing but a bulletin board depcting the visitor hours and the patients within the room. A single window lay open, the dark curtains billowing mockingly like shadow angels, adding to the mournful vibe Ivy was exuding. The faint sunlight and bright flourescent lighting glinted off the metal on the pocket watch grasped in his hand, and he brought his attention to it, remembering why he was there in the first place.

He looked at the pocket watch guiltily in his lap and had to break Ivy out of her daze. "Um...this is yours, I believe," he said timidly, returning the trinket to her.

Her eyes flickered in faint happiness, but just as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared. "Oh! That's right, I dropped it! Thank you, Alphonse!" she said gratefully, wrapping the chain around her fingers and unlacing them again. She flipped it open and looked into it, and for a split second, he swore her eyes lit up in alarm. He figured this was the best way to bring it up, before she got lost in ehr mind again.

"I looked inside of it," he stated bluntly. Immediately her head bounced up and her eyes contorted in fear. He stared at her in...anger? Disbelief? Even he didn't know how to describe it. "Seems like you're a crazed fan the way my brother's title is engraved in the back."

"Um...yeah. I'm kind of a diehard fan..." she said uneasily, her eyes faltering. _Her eyes always gave her away, _he noted in his head.

"But you said you didn't know where you got it from, didn't you?" he asked pointedly, making her bite her lip. She didn't respond. "And as I said, I looked inside it. I saw what it said."

Ivy looked down and bit her lip hard. He chose to ignore her even more guilty look.

"How do you know? You have a lot of explaining to do, Ivy, and I'm not letting you leave until you give me the _truth._"

* * *

**Nikkome: Fufufufu! **

**Ivy: What the FLIP, Nikkome?**

**Nikkome: What can I say? I DO have terrible luck...**

**Ivy: And why did you make me such a wimp in this chapter?! **

**Nikkome: I ain't gonna be all strong when I JUST KILLED SOMETHING LIVING.**

**Ivy: But you're so...violent.**

**Nikkome: -_-" I know. Oh yeah, by the way I GREATLY SIGNIFICANTLY APOLOGIZE FOR MY ABSENCE. I'm not grounded anymore, see? *cue nervous smile***

**Ivy: Sigh...Until Next Chap!**

**Nikkome: **=:D


	5. Earning Trust

**Chapter Five: Earning Trust**

_**AKA: Why Do I Have to Lie to Them?**_

XoXo… Noah's POV …XoXo

It's been about two days and still _nothing. _I'm starting to think that the world loves to put me in weird places.

Mustang and Hawkeye and the others seem to be working hard to find Ivy, but then again there's not many random thirteen year olds just running around and shouting their names. Havoc seems like a cool guy; doesn't let me smoke nothing, but I do see the moral in that. I guess even in different worlds people have those. Eh, I guess it's better than coughing my brains out the first time I got stupid and tried to smoke a cigarette. (Don't give me the riot-act; I know it was stupid)

I looked at the number that Douglas chick gave me. I still haven't called her or anything yet; I have better things to worry about than getting a date. I sighed and tossed the slip of paper at Havoc, making him blink in surprise and struggle to catch it. "There. Got you a date."

"What?" he asked, staring at the card.

"It's the number to that Douglas chick. Think she's about this tall—" I put my hand a few notches above my head. "—brown hair, green eyes. Pretty hot, I guess," I listed off.

His eyes widened in surprise. "You mean Juliet Douglas, the Fuehrer's assistant?!" he exclaimed.

I blinked my eyes. (Since I'm in anime do I blink my eyes like a pansy now?) "The 'Fuehrer'? What the hell is this? 1942?"

Havoc looked at me like I was crazy. "It's 1915..."

Oh shit! Forgot I was in Amestris for a little bit there... "Yeah, sorry. Forgot I wasn't on my side anymore," I explained, making him shrug his shoulders indifferently. I raised an eyebrow. "You seem to be taking this pretty well; me being from a different dimension and all."

He lit up his cigarette and breathed the smoke in, almost like mocking me. "Why should I be? I always said nothing was impossible."

I reached for one of his smokes and stole one quickly. "Can I have a light?"

He glared at me and snatched it from my lips, giving me a dirty look. "What do you think you are, kid? Trying to smoke and all that."

I shrugged. "Someone called Grant let me smoke one once. It got rid of my headache that day and I have one now. Coughed my brains out, but it got rid of the headache."

He rolled his eyes. "It's gonna give you black lungs, kid, if you keep going with that habit."

"And how about you?" I asked pointedly.

He shrugged and drag in some more smoke. "I don't care about black lungs; being in the military is enough black in my body," he answered.

I chuckled and put my hands behind my head and leaned back in my chair. I glanced once at the paperwork Havoc didn't bother to do and then traced over the seal on my illegal immigrant letter that stated I could walk around and not get arrested. Guess that was thoughtful of Mustang, but haven't seen him since. Starting to wonder if he ditched this mission completely; wouldn't blame him if he did. He never did believe me fully when I told him. I looked up at Havoc, "When am I going to the library?"

He shrugged again as if that gesture answered everything. "You shrug too much," I stated. He answered me in another shrug. I chuckled once but leaned back. I looked at the ceiling of another boring gray, just like everything here. Walls, carpets, furniture. Anything, really. "Think I can go to the library myself? Try to find that book that got me here in the first place?"

"Why not? Not like I'm stopping you," he replied indifferently. I gave him a pointed look.

"Aren't you watching me or something?" I asked. He shrugged again.

"You seem like you have some street smarts. You don't need a babysitter."

"Won't your boss kill you? What's his name...Mustang?" I asked.

"He'd understand. You're too much like him, so he'd think you've somehow escaped or something."

"But you're _letting _me go," I repeated. He looked up at me with a dirty look.

"Look, are you going or not? I can escort you if you want, but I don't think you need one," He told me annoyed. "If you want me to go, that's another story. I'll be right back here if you need anything. Oh!" he reached into his pocket and grabbed something. He tossed it at me. "The Colonel wanted me to give that to you. Just show them that watch and say it's on the Flame Alchemist's tab. He'll pay for everything."

"Cool," I said simply and stood up. "Where's the library?"

"Go straight down the street and take a right at the first intersection. After that, you'll see it across the street. Come back when you're done; no lollygagging, got it?" he said.

I smirked. "No problem."

* * *

XoXo... Ivy's POV ...XoXo

He knew. He knew, he knew, he knew! He found it out! He saw the stupid watch and now everything's going to fall apart. Oh, Goddess, kill me now! I started to gnaw on my bottom lip, a habit I never really had, starting to form. I bit it as hard as I could without drawing blood. All my guilt from lying to both him and Edward was beginning to fill the pit of my stomach and started to boil under the pressure. I was lying to him all along. I was lying to _both _of them all along. I knew I could never follow this charade; after all, I'm just a stupid girl. How could I possibly manage to fool the most intelligent of people I have ever come to know? I couldn't; but I still tried to. Oh, come on, don't I deserve a little credit for trying?

"Alphonse?" I asked softly, not daring to look him in the eye. _I don't think I'll ever look him in the eye ever again_. "You're right. I have a _whole_ lot of explaining to do. But not just to you. I need to explain to your brother too; it's...a _very_ long story."

He stared down at me and the guilt just boiled more in the pit of my stomach. This, on top of the incident with Ugly made me step back and realize what I was doing. I was in this daze of moping around like someone just killed my puppy. (It's a twisted way of seeing it, but still) Now I was on full-on alert of everything around me. So, what strategy should I partake on, I asked myself as e looked like he debated something, something important. I was about to ask what it was when he gripped my wrist and towed me along after him. I nearly stumbled over by the sudden movement. For some reason, it seemed like my body was put into some sort of coma after Ugly. Just thinking about him made my stomach flip in knots, fear and remourse and panic filled my chest. "W-what are you doing?"

He huffed once. "I'm bringing you with me to go get Brother."

His words made a little pang shoot through my chest. "You don't trust me," I stated, rather than asked.

He didn't answer me.

* * *

XoXo... Noah's POV ...XoXo

I followed the directions Havoc gave me and made it to the library after bypassing the bustling streets of people pushing and shoving me aside to get to wherever the hell they need to go. The library itself was a small thing; nothing too amazing. A small rundown shop; battered walls with chipping rust colored paint, revealing the dried out and rotten wood underneath. The door's bell chimed as I walked in, the scent of old paper and dust filling my nose, making me cough. It was just floorboard underneath me and with each few steps, it would creak. The walls were a musty marroon color and it looked like the guy who owned the shop hated dusting. I figured looking in the science section would help me, but still, _nothing._ Well, it's not like I can ask for any magical books that transport people through the gate.

Wait a minute...

Aren't I in Amestris? I mean, why _can't_ I ask for a dimension hopping book? That exists here, right?

I walked out of the history section (hoping I'd find a book that had my sort of case in it; no luck) and toward the counter so I could ask if they got the dimension-hopping book I needed. I had to wait for this chick at the front, arguing with the manager there. Me, being me, decided to ignore it. But it was kinda hard considering that they were arguing loudly.

"You don't understand, I _need_ that book back!" the girl insisted. Her chestnut hair flopped emphatically behind her from the high ponytail it was held in by a bright red ribbon. Her stature was rather short, as my perception that I would stand by her and she'd just be barely my height. She was fairly flat-chested, unfortunately, but had some sort of bust. It wasn't like a plank of wood, at least. Her legs were very shapely and well-toned, making her butt very attractive to look at. "It's a matter of the safety of these people!"

"No, _you_ don't understand. Once a book is published here, we don't just stop production because some _girl_ said so," the manager griped. His gray hair was thinning to the point of complete baldness that made me flinch and run a hand through my own thick brown mane to make sure it was still there. His cynical and beady eyes glared her up and down, seeming to not take a step down even to breathe.

"But that book needs to be destroyed! If it isn't, the secrets inside may be the end!" she screamed back.

"Unless you're the author of the thing, I can't help you," the manager repeated. "Now, out of my shop!"

"But I _am_ the author!"

The manager's eyes flared with anger and he slammed a hand on the table, the vase of a nearly dead flower wobbling by the impact. "And _I_ say that's a damn lie! The person who wrote it was a little dame named Violet Call—"

Violet Call? Why does that name seem so familiar...

"—She left the damn book on our doorstep with a note saying to publish it, and I got no objections!" the manager blared. He pointed at the door. "_Out_ of my shop before I get the cops!" She let out a mixture of a groan and scream of irritation and stomped out of the shop, grumbling a few curses under her breath. She turned abruptly, her bright and nearly glowing sapphire orbs boring right into the flower in the vase. Just by her stare, something underneath her sleeve glowed slightly as she growled, the flower drooping like a dead corpse as a result. With a final stomp, she left and I heard the manager sigh, "Crazy bitch..."

Staring back at the place she left, craning my neck to see if she was still there, I walked up to the manager and leaned on the table. "Who was that?" I asked, my eyes still on the door.

The manager gave the door leading where the girl left a dirty look, the wrinkles around his frown lines deepening and the creases in his forehead multiplying. "Erika Violet Evans. She keeps claiming that she wrote the book I got a week ago." he snorted. "If she wrote the damn thing and gave it here, why would she want it back? Only thing she got in common with the author is the middle name."

I raised an eyebrow. "What's the book called?"

"Eh, some alchemy book. It's called _The Other Side of the__ Gate_—whatever the hell that's supposed to mean." My eyes went wide. That title was very similar to the book that sucked me and Ivy here in the first place. "I've never heard what the hell this 'gate' is in the title, but those alchemy freaks sure don't know either. Still haven't sold a single copy."

I started getting uneasy. If this is the book I needed, how am I going to use it? I'm no alchemist. How the hell am I going to get me and Ivy out of here? More importantly, where the hell _is_ she? I threw the State Alchemist pocket watch on the table. "This is Roy Mustang's watch. You know, the Flame Alchemist? Can I get that book, please?"

"Sorry, boy," the guy said, pushing the watch back to me with his ancient-looking hands. "Can't accept it. Roy Mustang himself has to have a written letter saying you can take money out of his bank account."

"Damn it," I hissed, snatching it off the table and stuffing it back in my pocket in frustration. "Knew it might be useless...Where did that girl go? You know?"

"Who, the Evans girl?" he asked with a sneer at the mention of her. I nodded and he scowled. "Might want to hurry, boy. She lives further south from East City in a town called Ashwell. She only stays around for a couple days then goes back. You should go to the train station, though I don't know what you would want with her."

I smirked ironically, not intending for him to know my motives. "What can I say? I'm a sucker for a pretty face," I lied (though she was pretty hot, if I may say so myself.) I ran out, cutting off whatever the hell he was about to say. "Thanks for the tip!"

I ran after this Evans girl, pushing past rude business men and flew down the brick pavement, not stopping for so much as a penny on the ground. She might be the key to getting me and Ivy out of here.

* * *

XoXo... Ivy's POV ...XoXo

We made it to the cafe Edward was in silence. It was a nice city. Not very friendly and open like Ashwell, and not calculating and cynical like the city train station. The pavement was hard as my battered feet sped after Alphonse who set a very fast pace, and my wrist still in his grasp. The sky was actually bright blue and only a few clouds remained in it. The temperature was warm and the buildings around me were built in brick and wood, painted in very homely colors. Even so, the air appeared cold and the town seemed unnaturally quiet as I followed after the seven foot suit of armor in the jeans and t-shirt I had to quickly throw on. As soon as we made it to the cafe, Alphonse's grip on my wrist left and I rubbed it to get the feeling to return. "You're letting me go?"

"Are you saying I shouldn't?" I was shocked that he gave me a response, but I put that thought aside.

"I-I figured you'd keep your hold on me until we made it to Edward," I clarified, hiding my hands so that he couldn't change his mind and grab them again.

He was silent for a minute but decided what to say. "Whatever you're hiding from me and Brother is a different story. But you're not the type of person to run from your problems." I almost laughed at that, considering how many times I _have _ran from my problems. However, all joking died within me because of his resolute seriousness. I assume it's because of what he found in the watch that he was so serious about it, though.

"How do you know that about me?" I couldn't help but ask.

He was silent again. Just as I thought he wouldn't answer, he said, "I just do." and with that, he started walking in. I followed quickly after him, and I followed so silently and closely I might as well have been his shadow. I saw the table Edward was in, seeing his golden eyes glazed over in concentration and his eyebrows knitted together in focus. He was pouring over an alchemy book he had recently bought, and apparently he was enjoying it. I didn't know Ed for long, but for what I've seen and read in the anime and manga, and from real-life experiences, I just knew. Alphonse didn't need to beckon me over to him; I knew fully and understood fully of what I had to do. There was no instruction needed.

"Edward," I started, though I knew it was a feeble attempt. When it came to reading, he reminded me of myself. (Once I was so immersed in what I was reading that I hadn't listened to a word that my teacher said and basically missed an entire class. True story) I stole the book from his hands and put it to the side, clacking it gently down on the wooden booth.

"Hey!" he screeched, once he shifted his attention to me. "I was reading—" His sentence died in his throat once he locked eyes with me. "Hey, what's wrong, kid? What happened?"

His honest eyes made my stomach flip. He was so kind to me, yet I had deceived him. He was never going to forgive me for this. He'd never learn to trust me. At least a little of the guilt washed away once I realized he hadn't trusted me fully in the first place. "I want you to look at this," I said, tossing the State Alchemist pocket watch Jordan got me.

His honest eyes made my stomach flip. He was so kind to me, yet I had deceived him. He was never going to forgive me for this. He'd never learn to trust me. At least a _little_ of the guilt washed away once I realized he hadn't trusted me fully in the first place. "I want you to look at this," I said flatly, tossing the State Alchemist pocket watch Jordan got me.

He caught it effortlessly and he rose an eyebrow once he did. "It's a lot lighter than a normal once is..." he pondered and then tapped it. "It seems like it's not made of steel...All State Alchemist pocket watches are made of steel, though." I nodded and reluctantly motioned for him to open it. He seemed to shrug the whole thing off and opened it as told. Once he did, I would never forget that face. His expression was muddled; I couldn't depict what it contained. But I did catch one emotion: pain. Pain and then anger and then confusion. All of them swirled in his eyes and I could tell that all hopes that he were to ever forgive me vanished.

"But this is..." he trailed off, unable to decipher this predicament. I could basically see his thoughts on his face: How the _hell_ does this stupid girl know? Suddenly he stood up, clasped onto my wrist and started towing me along roughly after paying. I yelped in pain but he hadn't given me a single glance. I looked over my shoulder to see Alphonse, but I knew trying to read an armored face was useless. I showed no sign of protest as he hauled me back into the hotel room.

* * *

He basically threw me onto the couch.

"What the _hell _is this shit?! If this is some sick joke—"

"No! It's not—I'd _never_ joke about your past!" I exclaimed, making him turn up silent. Shitzu...I had to say the word 'past', huh? Damn it! Well, I guess that's the best way to start it.

"And how the hell would you know about our 'past' anyway?" he asked pointedly, making me shrink under his intensity. He was definitely furious.

I sighed. Well, now's better than never, I guess... "I don't have amnesia. I just said that so you wouldn't ask any questions that I couldn't answer."

He laughed and I felt chills go down my spine. That wasn't his normal laugh. This was something sinister. "Oh ho, 'questions you can't answer'? Well, put any shitty thoughts of that behind you because you are answering _everything. _And I don't give a damn about it; you are not leaving here until you answer every single question I have; got it?!"

I nodded stiffly. "Yes, sir."

He sighed as he ran a hand through his bangs. "Who are you?"

I jumped as my heart raced. He didn't trust me that much?! This was worse than I thought it was! "I-I'm Ivy Thompson! I swear that I haven't lied about that! I swear to you!"

He looked at me with emotionless eyes. "So you _have _lied to us?"

I looked down. He caught me there and I can basically feel the disappointment and anger he exuded. "Yes..." I reluctantly answered.

"What have you lied to us about?" he asked.

I deadpanned. Was he serious? What I lied about? Is he seriously gonna make me sit here and explain all that?! "Are you frikin' kidding me? You gave me such a vague question!" I exclaimed exasperatedly, getting a little fed up, I'll admit. I've been having a pretty bad week so far, and it was all starting to come back to me, making me have quite a foul mood as well.

He narrowed his eyes. "Then how do you propose that we get the truth out of you, huh?!" he challenged.

I shut my mouth as quickly as I had opened it. That was a good question...How was I going to tell the truth? Let them ask questions and some I'm unable to answer? They'd leave me on the streets to die—or worse! I don't know what these two are capable of; from what I've read and seen, these two were almost completely different than I thought they were going to be. I gulped. I _could_ always...

_No_, my inner voice told me.  
And why not? I asked back.  
_If you tell them, they might be in danger.  
_But if I don't, things may turn up worse!  
_Haven't you ever read what could happen in these types of situations?! They could get hurt, or die!  
_I know, but...  
_Don't do it._

My inner voice was right. But at the same time, I couldn't go with that option. They were counting on me. Rather, they _need_ me tell them. Just imagine what they'll go through knowing that I know about their past. I mean, I'd be paranoid as hell! In fact, I'd be driven to insanity! _You're over-thinking it again, Ivy, _I reminded myself. I bit my lip and clenched my hands into fists. I may be over-thinking it, but you know what? I didn't give a damn! I was going to tell them! _But if you do...!_ Shut up, inner voice! I sighed. I was arguing with myself. This was pathetic.

_How about a compromise? _

"Okay, I'll tell you everything," I started, making their heads perk up at my voice. I paled at the sight of their eyes. They were filled with anger and pain."Y'all might want to sit down for this..." They sat down as told. I sucked in a deep breath. Well, here goes nothing... "Before I start saying anythin', there will be _no _interruptions until I'm finished, alright? Y'all have a load of questions once I'm done, and I'd prefer if I answer them after the...'Story'." Edward scowled at this, but there really wasn't another option. He'd have to suck it up.

"Well...First of all, I'm not from here." Edward opened his mouth to say something but I cut him off with a wave of my hand. "And no, I don't mean Amestris. I'm not from a different country, I'm from...more like...an alternate...universe." At my description, I felt my face heat up in embarrassment at my choice of words. Ed was about to object, and so was Alphonse, but I cut them off again. "I said no interruptions!" I reminded them shrilly, my face probably pink, and they stayed silent reluctantly. I sighed as I continued my story. "I come from a place called Crockett in a state named California. And the country is America. And...well...in my alternate universe—you know what, I'm gonna call it my world—In my world, you two are...how do you say...famous.

"By famous, I mean that you have..." _What do I call it?_ "You have stories written about you two and your journey. In fact, I'm a big fan of your stories. If only I knew that you two were real, then I'll probably think differently on this, but that's beside the point." I decided to leave out the whole anime and manga part to avoid any more confusion than there already was.

"You have two stories. Both of them are really, _really_ different from each other but have the basis of you two in it. Hopefully you know what I mean by that...Anyway, I was visiting the library a few days ago—the day I came crying out to you two when Scar attacked me. I thought I was dreaming at first, but all of it seemed too..._real. _And I soon learned that it was, indeed, real. Back to the library—that friend I told you I'm looking for? His name's Noah. We had just met—and I don't mean met a few days ago, I mean straight on him being all, 'I just saved you from being raped!" and me being all, 'I saved you from getting run over by a car!' and then both unaminously deciding that since we're both going to the library, we should just go together. I was a little iffy about that because, well, we just met and I'm not exactly a smooth butterfly. I'm an awkward, ragged butterfly! And—"

When I caught sight of their blank, completely utterly confused stares, I cleared my throat and shut off my babble. "_Okay_, the whole how me and Noah met thingy is a completely other story that I could waste your time of telling you right now, but that can be saved for another time!" When they jsut stared at me with expressions I could not for the love of the Goddess describe, I hurried on with their story/explanation/this-is-meant-so-you-can-trust-m e-and-not-slit-my-throat speech.

"Anyway, so we went to the library and found this book called...uh...I think it was called 'The Pathway to the Other Side.'" Something about that title struck a cord in me. And now that I think about it, I was completely and spotlessly stupid for not realizing what the flippers the title meant. 'Other Side'? It's talking about the stupid Gate! Jeez, I'm stupid. Realizing that I hadn't spoken for a while, I swallowed and then continued on hastily. "And then, I recognized something that looked like a transmutation circle in the back of the pages. I figured it wouldn't work, because, well, I thought you two and this whole world wasn't real too. But, it started glowing purple and sucked me through it and I ended up here.

"Oh, and did I mention? Alchemy doesn't exist in my world." I had to take a moment to see their faces. Their jaws dropped and it seemed like I wouldn't have been given weirder stares than if I had grown corn from ears and pranced around the room saying I was a chipmunk. I shifted uncomfortably when they kept staring at me. "Bam! That's my story. So, uh...y-you can start asking me questions now..."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN ALCHEMY DIDN'T EXIST IN YOUR WORLD?!" Both of them exclaimed.

I slapped both my hands over my ears to protect them from any further damage. "Jeez, yell it louder, why don't you!" I yelled back, rubbing my temples at the newly caused headache they had given me. "This is as hard for me to comprehend just as you two, so don't go thinking I have the advantage. Because I _don't._ If anything, I've got the worse end of the deal."

Edward shook his head constantly, as if what he heard was just not possible. Which, it kinda shouldn't be. But unfortunately, it is. "This doesn't make any sense..."

"But it's true! I swear!" I shouted back in my defense. "I know that means nothing to you, but if there's one thing I live by, it's that I need to man up! No more acting like a coward!" I felt the power behind my words as I recalled what my father would say to me all the time, and briefly wished that he was here with me right now.

The blonde sighed and raked a hand through his bangs again as he stared at me incredulously. "So there's two stories about us in your world? How do you think we would believe t_hat_?" Ed retorted.

This time, _I_ glared at _him_ as I held up the pocket watch. I was just about fed up now. "This pocket watch is a complete fake! It's _merchandise_ for your story. How else would I know this date?"

"But your story doesn't add up," Edward interjected. "You say alchemy doesn't exist in your world, yet you used alchemy to get here. Explain that."

I glared at him. "You're just trying to find an excuse to call me crazy," I muttered. "And, like I said, I'm_ just_ as confused as you are. _That's _the hole I have to figure out in order to return home. Believe me, I want to leave as soon as possible, but I need to find Noah first."

Alphonse sighed and I noticed that he hadn't said anything in quite a while. "As much as I want to agree with Brother, something tells me that you're telling the truth..."

I beamed at him while Edward stood up quickly. "How could you say that, Al?!"

"She isn't lying this time, Brother," Al said. "The only thing she lied about, really, is that she had amnesia and couldn't remember anything. Other than that, it seems like everything else was the truth."

"But Al—!"

"Brother, I think she's telling the truth," he repeated, this time louder, making my hopes brighten. He sighed again and put his face in his hands. "She says that there were stories about us, right? I really don't want to believe it, but..." His voice dropped to just above a whisper. "What if it leads to getting our bodies back, Brother?"

Both me and Ed were silent at that remark. That's true. With my knowledge of their future...I could tell them how to get their bodies back. It would be simple. And they wouldn't have to suffer anymore. But wait...which series was I in? The manga or anime? Those two have completely different endings to how they get their bodies back! How am I going to distinguish them?!

"Well...can you?" I heard Al ask softly. I looked up at him, panic arising in my chest. "Can you tell us how our story ends? Do we get our bodies back?"

I felt tears prickle my eyes and I didn't feel like holding them back this time. Alphonse and Edward had _every_ right to know...but if I tell them, what are the consequences? Will a completely different ending come up? Me being here in itself is a hindrance to the order, I now realize. I mean, Lust wasn't supposed to be at that cliff or whatever. And chimeras don't attack freely! As I continued to glance between both brothers, my breathing hitched and my heart thudded against my ribcage. They were counting on me, and that was what made me go into a full out panic.

"Can you?" Alphonse asked again in that same small voice.

I looked down, unable to look at either of them.

"...Judging by your silence, we don't get our bodies back, do we?" Edward asked softly.

I bounded my head up, rising to my feet in my immediate anger or remourse. I couldn't tell which. "NO! That's not it at all!" I screamed, despite myself. I bit my tongue when they both stared at me hopefully, and gently sat back down. One thought crossed my mind: _Damn it, did I just ruin everything?_ "I-I mean, there's two different stories of you two...I need to find out which one you are following, or if you're following them at all." I looked back down, still unable to meet their gazes, for fear if I do, I'd break down and tell them everything. "If I tell you anything, I'm afraid that I might screw everything up in the timeline of you story. If I interfere, it might change the story entirely. I don't want to do that to _you_ guys, out of everyone..."

Ed's nostrils flared as his eyes danced in a flash of anger. His voice was rough with emotion when he spoke."So you're refusing to tell us, is that it?" he accused.

I groaned in frustration. "Yes—no! I don't know...both...? Gah! THIS IS SO AGGRAVATING!" I shouted, grabbing my hair. "This would be so much simpler if I didn't have Noah to worry about..." It's true. If Noah weren't here, I wouldn't have to have the priority of getting home so high. Not that I _don't_ want to go home, but that way I didn't have another life to worry about but my own. And if I made a mistake, it'd fall on just me rather than me _and_ someone else.

"I see..." Alphonse murmured. My heart just about shattered. I can't just destroy their hope...I have to help them somehow.

_Don't do it.  
_But I have to! If I didn't, I don't think I could live with myself...  
_But if you do, you'll ruin everything! IVY, DON'T!_

"I'll point you two in the right direction!" I exclaimed, surprising them both, including myself. I looked them in the eye, Edward especially with determined eyes. "I'll help you. I'll help you as much as I possibly can without ruining your story. I can't—_won't_ allow myself to abandon you two like this. Just me _being_ here is screwing your story up as we speak. But I _promise_ you, I'll set it back on track. All I ask in return is for you to help me find Noah and get us back home."

They stared at me in surprise. I ignored their blatant stares as I stuck my hand out.

"Does it sound like a deal?" The hurt in their faces told me everything. They didn't _want_ to trust me. They didn't _want_ to put their fate in my hands. And I don't blame them; _this_ little girl was going to help them? I wouldn't believe it one bit. I looked down as I said the one thing that I could have never managed to say back home. "If I don't keep my word, then you have permission to slit my throat. How about that? Does it sound like a deal now?"

At that comment, Edward's eyes widened. "_What_...?!" When he saw my face, however, he sighed and ran a hand through his bangs. I vaguely wondered what he saw when he looked at me. Determination? Bluntness? Or outright childishness? Edward stared at my hand with a distant look in his eyes. He glanced back up at me, and when I thought he was going to refuse, he gave me his lopsided grin. But, it wasn't the same. It was empty. Completely empty and not the same grin I had seen. He still didn't trust me. Even so, he gripped my hand firmly. "I don't want to kill a little girl as much as the next person, but I guess I have no choice in the matter...Sounds like an Equivalent Exchange to me, right Al?"

"Right!"

I knew Edward and Alphonse still don't trust me, but I would prove to myself that I _can_ do something to help them. And I _will_ get Noah back home even if it costs me my life as an Equivalent Exchange. I knew that this was such a childish proclamation I proposed, but I was impulsive, that I'll admit. Not to mention stubborn. It was childish, reckless, and overall idiotic. Hell, I just about dug my own grave, huh?

But to be honest, I _really_ didn't care.

* * *

**Nikkome: I feel like that was such a Mary Sue like thing to say...Meh. I'll let the reader's decide.**

**Ivy: Why did you make me so idiotic?!**

**Nikkome: Because you're me! And I'm a flipping idiot most of the time!**

**Ivy: Normally people make themselves sound more badass than they really are...but you make yourself even wimpier than you really are!**

**Nikkome: T-T In time, Ivy, in time! But I can't lie and say that I'd kick ass completely in that world...Most likely I'd be wimpier than I make you...This is pitiful.**

**Nikkome and Ivy: Until Next Chap! **=:D


	6. Meeting the Other

**Chapter Six: Finding The Other  
**

**_AKA: Where Were You?_  
**

* * *

XoXo… Noah's POV …XoXo

I ran all the way to the train station, my feet thudding on the stone pavement as I panted to reach my destination. I had to weave in between businessmen, pedestrians, and even small families, all bumping and thundering through them all, making a few fall and stumble. I kept shouting my apologies, but it didn't really seem all that much important to me unless they were bleeding or crying. My hair was blowing through with the wind, and my newly deemed animated legs seemed to go faster than I could before. I wondered vaguely if that was just a trait of an anime character or due to the impending white blankness that still sent shivers and fear to wreck havoc on my body.

It was then when I caught sight of the chick from before, suitcases in hand, sapphire eyes seeming to gleam in the sunlight but glinting with obvious frustration. When she was about to step aboard the train, I had to stop her somehow. "Wait!" I shouted through the sea of people, my voice carrying over them and loudly to the girl's ears.

She turned around for a moment, her sapphire eyes locking with mine. Once she saw me though, irritation flooded her face as I jogged toward her, pushing myself through the bunches. When I reached her, she looked me up and down with appraising eyes. "And who are _you_? One of the shopkeeper's message boys? I get the message; I'm leavin'."

"No, I'm not," I tried to reason, grabbing her arm. "It's about that book."

Her eyes widened and I cocked my head to the side in confusion and suddenly, like a small electrocution, a zap of lightning ran up my arm and shocked me. I flinched and snatched my hand back, releasing her and the pain subsided. I figured it was asmall shock, nothing much to worry about, but she regarded me with puzzled eyes, and she grabbed the arm that I touched, putting a hand over a spot where something was glowing underneath her sleeve. She looked down at her feet and hopped down from the train station, letting out a very loud groan as she tossed her ticket over her shoulder and threw her suitcases to the side to let people through.

"I get it, I get it!" she snapped, whacking at the part underneath her sleeve, that glowed an eerie sapphire blue that matched her eyes. She sighed inwardly and looked at me, her eyes narrowed in annoyance. "What do you want?"

"I already told you," I said, my breathing finally starting to get back to normal from my marathon race. "It's the book. How much do you know about it?"

"A lot more than I'd like to," she said with speculating eyes.

I raised an eyebrow. "So...you wrote it?"

At this, she growled at me and glared her perfect little gem eyes, and I'll admit, looking straight at those mesmurizing eyes of hers, I was a little intimidated. "Of course I wrote it, ya idiot! Why else would I argue with that stupid manager for months!" she yelled.

Jeez. She was at it for a long time. "Look, I'm not doubting you or anything. I'm just trying to get answers for all the shit I'm going through right now, okay? And I think that book had something to do with me being in this little shit-fest I'm in," I told her straightly, making her turn up silent. I sighed myself and ran a hand through my hair. I didn't like to downgrade girls at any point of time. That meant yelling at her, give her attitude, or even get mad at her. Or-god/entity/deity thing forbid- hitting a girl. "I'm sorry," I said briefly and then made eye contact with her. "But, I think you can help me out. So, will you?"

She stared at me for a long time, then glanced at the train behind her. She took a sharp breath in, and grasped her arm at the place where the whatever beneath her sleeve was glowing. She cursed at herself softly. "Sorry, Ames...Looks like ya have to wait a lil' while longer," she muttered to herself and I heard the faint remnants of a country accent in her voice, hinting at where she came from.

Instantly, a grin formed on my face and I couldn't help the little bounce in my step that now appeared. "Is Ames a friend of yours or something...?" I asked.

"Sister," she corrected firmly, and I saw the faintest hints of pride to seep into her demeanor at the mention of her sibling. "She's been waitin' for quite a while back at Ashwell for me to come back home. And thanks to _you_," she looked accusingly at me. "she's gonna need to wait even longer."

I shrugged. "Just make sure to tell Ames that I'm gonna be borrowing her sister for a while," I said. And as an afterthought, added, "Oh yeah. And tell her I said 'hi' too."

At that comment, she laughed a little and I smirked to finally see her smile. "Well, borrowin' or not, I'm still on a time limit. So ya better hurry up."

* * *

XoXo… Ivy's POV …XoXo

I knew they didn't trust me completely; that much was obvious. Still, that didn't stop Alphonse from asking every single question known to his suit of armor head. I sat on the couch, my legs crossed over one another, slouching forward, with a hand twirling a piece of my hair around my fingers. Alphonse was pouring question after question at me, and it took me a while to notice Edward taking notes secretly in the background. My eyes kept flickering over to him after I answered each of Al's questions, his face contorted in puzzlement and his pen scratching along his page. (By the way, he was left-handed! I didn't notice that before!)

"How did Brother get his license?" Al asked skeptically, ramming off questions to see if I can slip up and not answer something incorrectly so they'd both get a chance to say that I was lying. And after that, either kill me, threaten me, or send me to prison. I wasn't sure they'd put me in a mental ward, though. They might be merciful and do so, I hope if I do mess up.

I sighed. "That depends..." I twirled my hair in my fingers. "He had to get automail on both his right arm and leg and then heal up in one year, he proclaimed. After that, at age twelve, he set off to go to Central. While there, he took the written portion of his test, and passed with flying colors." I looked up at his armored face. "You passed as well." His glowing red orbs flickered with surprise, I believe. "After that, you both found out that you might get a physical test, to which they'd find out that in that armor of yours, you were..." I trailed off, realizing the words coming out of my mouth.

They both were silent.

I paused and looked at both of them in a slight nervous tendency. "Well, you were..." I forced out of my mouth, my throat suddenly very dry. My heart began to race and I wasn't sure whether or not I should say anything.

"He was, what?" Ed pushed, his eyes cold and hard as he examined me, sure to kill me if I said anything too much.

"Empty," I rushed out and then began to explain myself. "An experiment gone wrong- The Ultimate Taboo! The cause of your automail...!" As I saw both thier expressions, I panicked. "I swear that I don't intend to say anything about that to-"

"Answer the question. How did Brother get his license?" Alphonse cut me off, his voice sounding choked up and rough.

I swallowed. "You convinced Al not to continue, so you took an Interview, from then on went to show your potential at the Training Grounds or whatever to the Fuehrer and saved another man's life by his failed attempt of his alchemy. It was then you discovered that you can use alchemy without transmutation circles," I finished in a quick voice.

Ed's blonde eyebrows rose in question, and I realized I might've said the wrong version.

"That's version one!" I cut off whatever question the prodigy was bound to ask and hastily made my other explanation go. "The second is you still show that you can use alchemy without transmutation circles but threatened the Fueher's life with a spear at his throat in a demonstration, to which you gained his approval."

There was a long pause after this and I felt a trickle of sweat go down my temple. The blonde carefully put down his pen and his paper along with it on the small table beside the chocolate colored chair and folded his hands on his lap. A few more seconds went on in silence as he studied me meticulously, his golden eyes boring into my brown ones. I was sure that I looked like a scared puppy by now and started smoothing that lock of hair I was twirling in my fingers almost OCD-like.

"Before I decide anything," he finally started, making my heart pound against my chest and hear it in my ears. "Tell me _one_ more thing that no one else would ever know, besides me and Al."

I sucked in a breath, studying my shoes as I sifted through all the information I could that will possibly ever gain the approval of the cynical Edward. Something from his childhood? Or something a little more...special than that?

That was when I came to a conclusion.

I smiled, forcing my lips to turn upward into my perfected fake smile. "When you were little, you and Alphonse asked your childhood friend Winry to marry you. She declined, because she said that she didn't like men shorter than her."

A vein in Ed's head bulged in anger as he stood up briskly. "WHO YOU CALLIN' SO SHORT THAT HE-"

"Edward."

To my complete surprise, he stopped his rant and regarded me with closed off eyes.

"Can...I see a piece of paper?" I asked. He furrowed his brows in confusion, but hesitantly tore a slip of paper off his notes and handed it to me, looking at me as if analyzing what I was going to do. "A pen?" He gave me one as requested. I bent down, covering the paper so Alphonse nor Edward could see and scribbled what I needed on it. After I was finished, I delicately handed it to Edward and he still looked confused as to what I was doing. He took the torn piece from me, and surveyed it over, his eyes widening and his lips pressed together in a tight line.

He glanced once at me, and when I looked him in the eyes, he broke off our eye contact and stuffed the slip into his pocket. "Okay. You're telling the truth."

On that paper, I had written: _You saw the Gate and the Truth within it. _along with a drawing of a gate with a huge eye, slowly calculating what compensation it shall take away from you.

* * *

XoXo… Noah's POV ….XoXo

"So, what's your name anyway?" I asked, sipping on my coffee. We had decided on a small cafe, not much larger than a Starbucks and ordered our drinks. She gave me a dirty look when I ordered my coffee and she ordered hot chocolate. She rolled her eyes at me.

"Erika Violet Evans. Interestin' that you'd run after me and don't know who I am," she commented, still eyeing me with irritation as I took sips from my drink. She growled and reached over, snatching the coffee from my hands and putting her hot chocolate in place of it, surprising me with her agility.

"Hey—!"

"How old are ya? Fourteen? You don't need coffee," she remarked, drinking my coffee instead. I gave her a dirty look this time.

"I'm FIFTEEN! And how about you? You don't need to be drinking coffee either," I retorted, making her roll her eyes again.

"I'm sixteen. And until ya turn sixteen, ya don't need coffee," she said defiantly, staring at me with those mesmerizing eyes of hers. She put down the mug and folded her hands together on the wooden picnic table. "So, what ya need to know? I'm on a time limit, 'member?"

I nodded, thankful that she brought it up. "That book that you were trying to get discontinued...Pathway to the Whatever, right?"

"Pathway to the Other Side of the Gate," she corrected quickly and darted her eyes down. "What...what do ya need to know about it?"

"You wrote it, right?" She nodded quickly.

"At least _you _believe me! Everyone thinks I'm goin' insane!" she exclaimed exasperatedly. She sighed as she fell back in her chair, leaning back in it. "So...did ya read it?"

"Hell no," I replied instantly. Her eyes widened, probably because of my immediate response. "Why would I? That's some science genius crap, right?" I sighed/groaned, just _thinking_ about science. "There's a different reason why I need to know everything about it, though."

She laughed softly, her eyes glazing over in sarcasm as she leaned forward, resting her chin on her folded hands. "A different reason, eh? Well, I would just _love _to hear that."

I attempted a smile, but thinking over it, the blankness started to come over me agian, engulfing me in white. My smile faded and the chilling voice echoed throughout my head, making my hands tremble. I cursed at myself as I ordered my stomach to ignore the growing blob of insanity filling it, and closed my hands into fists so they would stop shaking. I looked at Erika in the eyes. "I'm..." The memory resurfaced, and made it more difficult to say the words, "from the other side of the Gate."

At that moment she choked on her coffee. She coughed to breathe again as she stared at me in surprise. "W-What?!" Whatever was underneath her sleeve glowed brighter, and she slapped a hand over it. "I...I..." she groaned at herself as she blinked, making me realize her eyes all of a sudden began to get brighter. Her breath became shallow, and her conscousness began to fade. At that point, she ripped off her sleeve with such ferocity that I choked on my spit as she shoved an armband off of her left arm, banging it on the table and panting to regain the breath that she had stopped acquiring. She glared at the small piece of jewelry as the glow from her eyes began to die down, as the glow was no long evident on the armband. Which I realized had eight different trans-whatevers engraved in it.

"You lie!" she seethed, piercing her eyes into me, like spearing my gut with a harpoon. I was sprung back in my chair in surprise at her sudden anger and had to put my hands up in surrender.

I shook my head vigorously, with my green eyes wide. "Why the crap would I lie about something like that?!"

"Then explain yourself! Prove it to me!" she demanded, punching her fist on the table, surprising quite a few people around us. I waved my apologies to them, trying to calm them down and get their attention off of us. When they turned their heads back around, Ilowered my voice to her.

"I...I don't know how to explain it, okay?!" I admitted, sighing as I ran my hands through my hair obsessively. Clenching my hands into fists, I forced the words out of my mouth that was sending off crazy sirens throughout my mind. The growing blob of fear in my stomach traveled up my chest and now was forcing its way up my throat. I glanced up at her desperately, wetting my lips as I tried to convince her through my eyes that I was telling the truth. "All I saw was blankness...J-just this...this...land of white that fucking scared the life out of me, alright?!"

A moment of silence lapsed between us as her sapphire orbs softened from their previous angered glare. "Oh..." was all she said and she cussed herself out in some other language that I didn't understand. She kept cussing herself out, sometimes in English, sometimes in that other language, as she shoved her suitcase toward her and started ripping through it like a mad man. "Where the _fuck_ is it?!" she asked herself and then sighed in relief when she found it. She took out a beat-up green notebook and tossed it at me, and I caught it with agility as I stared at it.

"What the hell is this?" I asked, motioning to open it.

"Don't open it here!" she hissed at me, making me stop my hands as I looked up at her. She shook her head and then said, "It's my notebook. It contains everythin' you possibly need to know of how to solve your...predicament." She stood up quickly. "I hope you get home safely."

"Wait!" I called at her. "What the crap am I supposed to do with this?!"

"Whatever your instincts tell ya," she answered and motioned to walk away. But before she could take another step, she stopped herself. "Promise me one thing, though. And ya have to promise your life, and stick with it."

I wet my lips again. "Name it."

"Protect that notebook even if it kills ya."

I jumped. I shook my head over and over again. "Hell no! I'm not gonna die for some stupid journal-"

"Protect it with your life," she repeated, glowering into me and piercing me with her gaze again. "Ya have to. Or else things may end in tragedy."

I still had no frikin' idea what the hell she was talking about, but something about the look she gave me made me nod my head and say, "Sure."

And with that, she turned away and left.

* * *

XoXo... Elric's POV (On the Train) ...XoXo

Ivy sneezed.

Alphonse turned his head to her with concern lacing his words. "Are you getting sick? That's the third time you've sneezed."

She shook her head so violently that her hair flew all around her head. "No, no! I can't be sick! We're so close to Central!"

Edward raised an eyebrow. "We just boarded the train. Central's six hours away."

She screwed her face in frustration at him. "You know what I mean!" she groaned. "If I get sick now then how am I gonna be in good shape to look for Noah? Maybe someone's gossiping about me or something..."

Ed smirked. "That might be it. Who _wouldn't_ want to talk about a crazy kid all day?"

She growled. "I'VE NEVER WANTED TO HIT SOMEONE SO BADLY IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!"

Alphonse sighed. Edward and Ivy were always going at each other like this. He wasn't sure if it was because they got along so well, or they hated each other with all their guts. He hadn't known Ivy for long, but for some reason she managed to convince him and his brother of where she actually came from. He didn't know what she showed his brother, but he just knows that as soon as he saw it, they had to believe her one hundred percent.

She promised that if she failed her promise to them, or lied about the entire thing, they had permission to slit her throat. He thought she was bluffing, but one look at her eyes confirmed one thing and one thing only to him: She would help them no matter what, even if she had died trying.

The weird thing was, it made him remember the determination Edward's eyes had set in them when he promised that he'd get Alphonse his body back by joining the military.

* * *

XoXo... Noah's POV...XoXo

I opened up Mustang's watch and looked at the time. Damn...it was nine already. Mustang's going to bust my ass or something. I ran to Central HQ as fast as I could. After that meeting with Erika, all I've been doing was reading her notes. And for the past few hours trying to find out what she meant by protecting this thing with my life...

It just looks like some freaking journal! It has songs written in it, journal entries, recipes she learned, and some pictures she took with her family! There isn't any alchemical theories! It's some girl's diary!

I managed to make it back to HQ in reccord time, bending over and resting my hands on my knees to catch my breath. It seemed all I've been doing today was run around the city. Looking up at the gaping entrance to Central HQ, I sighed and sat down on the entrance steps. I was staring down at my beat up sneakers, just wondering about things. Things like, I wonder if Erika gave me the wrong notebook or something...or if she didn't intend to help me at all. I shook my head. No, that's not it. That chick may be a little off, but she wasn't lying. A liar knows a liar, and she wasn't one.

Heavy footsteps came close and I was put on edge. I straightened up slightly, wondering who would want to jump me if word was going around that I was a delinquent. "Who's there?!" I called out, looking around for the cause, but ending up staring at nothing but the dark streets due to the night illuminated slightly by the street-lights. I glared around me. "I asked, _who_ was there?!"

It was quick. Very quick—but I know I saw it. There were two violet eyes staring right at me. And I mean, _at_ me. The eyes sized me up, surveying me up and down and I scowled at it to do something about them. It laughed, then disappeared. Suddenly, I remembered why they seemed to creepy and familiar. It was the same black thing that looked at me in Mustang's office and it didn't feel right. Not one bit.

A few moments went by and loud foosteps came pounding down the road ahead. And then, someone sneezed really girly. And it was a straight up _girly_ sneeze. It sounded all petite and polite with its high-pitched _'achoo!'_ I mean, come on! My sneezes are all loud and shit, sometimes scaring the living crap outta the person next to me. What the hell?!

"I SWEAR TO GOD, IF YOU SNEEZE ONE MORE TIME—!"

"I can't help it! For some reason my allergies, and I...can't...stop—_achoo!" _

"WHY ARE YOUR SNEEZES SO DAMN GIRLY?"

"QUIT CRITICIZING MY SNEEZES! THEY HAVE FEELINGS!"

Wait, wait, wait. This chick's sneezes have...feelings? O-okay, that is the funniest thing I have heard all my life! She had to be dead serious when she said it, though! Despite myself, I started to laugh about it a little. I heard a few shouts come from where the sneezes were and light footsteps padded over. A pair of semi-new sneakers with padded toes- like they were steel-toed or something. I trailed my eyes upward, and I came across feminine legs covered in shapely jeans. Her torso was covered in a basic purple off-the-shoulder t-shirt and she cocked her head to the side, making her long brown hair fall to one side, and her bangs to sweep over her left eye. Her big, chocolate brown eyes looked over me in wonder.

"Is that...you?" she asked softly, her voice making me jolt and realize who she was.

"Ivy!" I exclaimed, standing up quickly and a smile spreading over my face. As soon as I spoke, her eyes started to tear up and I panicked. What should I do?! It's not like I did anything to make her upset, right?

"You...you...!" she stammered, tears swelling up in her eyes and waving her arms around trying to gather her words. I guess she decided to give up on what she was trying to say because she came charging at me yelling, "Y-you're okay!"

"Of course I—" I was cut off when she jumped at me..._tackling _me in a hug. I'm not kidding—she tackled me! I was pushed to the ground and she kept repeating, 'you're okay, you're okay, you're okay!'. I felt my shirt dampen and I got uncomfortable. What did I do _now_?! "H-hey, why are you crying?" I asked, a little panic in my voice.

She looked up and from the looks of it, she wasn't the prettiest crier. Her nose was red and her eyes got all puffy. At least she was a prettier crier than some chicks I've seen. "I-I'm happy, you idiot!" she said, wiping at her face roughly to get tears away. "I-I thought that y-you got hurt or some shizz like that..."

I laughed a little because she said 'shizz'. "Well, I'm hurt _now_ since you tackled me," I stated, making her jump a little and sit up.

"O-Oh, I am SO sorry!" she exclaimed, still not getting off of me. I rolled my eyes and sat up myself, making her slide off my chest and onto my lap instead. Normally people were uncomfortable with sitting on people's laps that they just met, but apparently _she_ didn't have any trouble. "You didn't get a concussion, did you?"

I chuckled. "I don't think you can give me a concussion just like that."

"Really?"

I laughed again. "Really."

"Then I won't be guilty doing this," she said and I raised an eyebrow, confused. She lifted her hand up and karate chopped me in the head. Hard.

"OW!"

"OW!"

I gave Ivy a dirty look when she cradled her hand near her chest. "Why the hell are _you_ saying 'ow'?! You're the one who hit _me_!" I yelled at her.

She gave me a dirty look. "It's not like the skull is the softest thing in the world! You got a hard head!"

"HEY!"

"And you're such an IDIOT!" she screamed, making me wince at how loudly she did. It was then when I noticed a crowd gathering around us, staring at us like we're crazy. I had to admit, that was pretty awkward. "Why did you hold onto me when the book was _SUCKING ME IN?_ THAT'S SOMETHING AN IDIOT WOULD DO! Normally people have a little voice in their head to avoid something like that, but, _nooo._ _Yo__u_ apparently _don't_!"

"Uh...Ivy, we're kinda attracting a crowd..." I tried to warn her in a low voice.

"So what?! LET THEM STARE!" she shouted, and I put my hand over her mouth.

"Geez, do you even HAVE an inside voice?!" She gave me a dirty look as she licked my hand. I made a face and recoiled my hand fast, wiping it on my pant leg. "UGH! GROSS!"

"Next time you do that to me, I'll BITE your hand!" she shouted, and I noticed that basically the entire city was staring at us. Ivy might not care that people were staring but _I_ did. I stood up, making her fall off me and onto the cold pavement."OW! Hey, what ya think you're—"

"Shut up, we need to get to HQ before people start taking pictures or something," I snapped, hauling her up the steps. She tried to pull back, but I didn't let her.

"Hey, I came here with a few friends!" she insisted, trying to stop me from walking. I kept taking steps, hauling her along after me like some kid.

"I'm pretty sure they caught the show and got lost in the crowd," I replied dryly, making her eyes widen in small panic. She turned around swiftly.

"Then I need to go back!" she said, trying to pull away. I didn't let her and tightened my grip on her hand, twirling her back around to face me. She almost lost her balance on the stairs, but I managed to straighten her out by my grip.

"We can find your little travel companions later, but right now I think trying to go back home is the main thing we need to work on. And I need to go back to Mustang," I told her.

Her eyes widened as wide as I thought her almond shaped eyes could go. "You don't possibly mean..._The_ Roy Mustang, do you? _Colonel_ Mustang?!" Before I could even say a word, she slapped a hand over her mouth in horror as she gasped and finally tore her hand free, pacing back and forth at HQ doors. "Oh _shitzu_, what am I gonna tell him?" She asked herself in panic. After a second or two, her eyes lit up in alarm and I was kinda surprised how much emotion she can put through her eyes. "Oh shitzu, what did YOU tell him?!"

"Relax, we can trust him," I tried to comfort her.

She bobbed her head up and down. "Yeah, no duh! But what _exactly _did you tell him?" she asked again, taking a step closer to me. I sighed at her overly nervous vibe and walked on, her following diligently behind me. I pushed open the huge HQ doors, and let her in before me, shoving them to a close behind me and making a huge BANG! as we entered the lobby; a basic room like a bank would have as an entrance. When I looked down and noticed our hands were still locked together, I felt my ears burn slightly and I let go of her hand quickly, shoving mine in my pocket while she rubbed hers unconsciously.

I gave her a weird look to mask my previous embarrassment. "What _else_ should I tell him? I told him that we're from the other side of the Gate."

She sucked in a breath of air, and she choked on it, coughing to catch her breath. She looked up at me with eyes frigid with disbelief. "Y-You...WHAT?!" she screeched. "YOU FRIKIN' IDIOT!" At that, she let out a small groan/scream and started pacing again, this time obsessively smoothing a lock of hair between her fingertips.

"Hey, hey!" I tried to calm her down, putting my hand on her shoulder, momentarily stopping her constant movement. She looked at me with those animated eyes of hers, and I softened the tone of my voice for her. "Calm down; it's not like the world's going to end."

At that, she snorted. "Well, maybe not the _world_ but everyone's lives, maybe! Don't you know what type of crucial information that is?!" She sighed and, before she started pacing again, she obsessively started messing with her hair again. "They weren't meant to know that yet!" she exclaimed and before she said anything more, she stopped herself and looked down at the floor, her bangs framing her face again. "Well, I think they shouldn't know that yet..."

I groaned. She was blowing this whole thing out of proportion. This time, I took hold of both her shoulders and made her look me in the eye. "Okay, calm down. I really don't think it was that important," I tried to reason. She shook her head as she took big breaths to calm herself down. She looked all around as if checking her surroundings.

"A-alright. I'll calm down. After all, I don't wanna freak you out and make you think I'm some sorta crazy girl who freaks out all the time," she said and I had to laugh at that a little. She was kinda funny. Funny in an innocent way. As she said that, I released her arms and she turned away from me slightly so we weren't all that close. "The reason I'm sayin' all that is because I realize this world is still goin' by the timeline of the anime or manga..." After she said that it seemed like she went off into her own world, and kept on talking. "I'm not sure yet which though..." She squinted her eyes and her eyebrows furrowed. "Wait. Did that sentence make sense? Yeah, I guess it did."

Was she talking to herself or something?

"Are you talking to yourself?" I asked.

She looked up and blinked her eyes. "Hm? Oh! You mean my rambling. Yeah, I tend to do that a lot..." she laughed nervously. "I went to this one camp site and after I came out I lost my inner monologue. So I can't think in my head sometimes. What I think comes out of my mouth." She kept gesturing with her hands to explain everything, her hands going all over the place. "I mean, I _can_ think in my head like if I'm reading or if I'm just spacing out, but other than that it just comes right out of my mouth. It gets kinda annoyin' because I start rambling—" Her eyes widened in recognitioned. "Like I am right now. I'll shut up now." She looked down embarrassed.

Was she getting nervous? Aw, okay, that's kind of sweet. (Just because I admitted it was sweet, doesn't mean I'm a pansy, got it? I'm still manly) I smiled. "Nah, it's alright. Go ahead and ramble. It's kinda cute."

Her cheeks just went from normal to bright red right after I talked, and then I realized what I just said. She looked away, her cheeks still pink. "T-thank you, I guess..." she said quietly. She blew a stray strand away from her face. "At least _you_ like my rambling. Other people just tell me to shut up, which I don't really mind, because I tend to talk too much sometimes. But on the bright side, my dad said that hearing voices in your head makes you insane!"

I had to laugh at that one. Okay, this chick was alright. At least she's not freaking out anymore. I loosened my stance and put both hands in my pockets. "So you were saying something about a timeline or some shit like that?"

She snapped her head to me and gave me a dirty look. She hit me in the arm and I was surprised at how hard she could punch. It was pretty decent. "Don't say that word. No cussing," she scolded.

I rolled my eyes. "Figures you'd tell me off about that too."

She giggled. And it was the girly-est thing I've ever heard. It sounded like an anime girl's laugh and that was just way too weird. I know that we kinda turned _into_ anime, but still. I wasn't used to it. At all. "To be honest, I don't care if you cuss. It's just that I used to have a bad cussing problem and I don't want to go back to that. If you cuss, I cuss by accident, and then all goes bad." She shook her head. "ANYWAY, about the timeline, we need to keep it on track."

"Wait, what?"

She sighed and suddenly her entire demeanor shifted. Just a second ago, she was a babbling nervous wreck, then innocent sweet girl, and now calm, cool, and collected leader. What the crap?! "What I mean is, that there's the timeline we have to follow to make sure that Edward and Alphonse get their bodies back. We were put right in the middle of the story. But the problem is, I don't know which one this is. Is it Brotherhood?" She put one hand out. "Or the first anime?" She put put her other hand. "Nothing's really popped up that told me which one this is..." Her eyes narrowed in frustration. "I kinda hope it's Brotherhood. I reread the manga recently so I'm more familiar with it. Besides...the ending's happier."

I had no clue what the hell she was talking about, but that didn't matter because some short guy with a red coat and another seven-foot-tall guy in armor just come clanging up like all was normal, waving to us and calling out.

"Hey, Ivy!" the blonde guy called and she whirled around to face them. And I literally mean whirl around—she spun like a ballerina. Her eyes sparkled in happiness as soon as she saw them.

"Edward, Alphonse!" she called back, waving them over. I was shocked once I saw them. One of them was a short blonde dude with his hair in a braid and a bright red coat on. The other was a seven foot suit of armor. It banged hollow every time he took a step. I'm not stupid—I _know _who these guys are. I may haven't watched the show or read the manga, but I know what their names were thanks to Ivy here. They must be Edward and Alphonse Elric. _These_ were the guys Ivy was traveling with?

"Sorry, Ivy, but we got stuck in the crowd," the armor (which I think was Alphonse...Yeah. Alphonse) apologized.

"Yeah, what caused that anyways?" Edward asked with an annoyed look on his face.

I smirked. "Ivy here decided to shout everything she said, karate chopped me in the head, licked my hand, called me an idiot, and decided to shout to the crowd to 'let them stare!' in one go," I told him bluntly, shrugging indifferently. "I'm not surprised a crowd started."

Edward gave Ivy a dirty look and smacked her in the back of the head. "Dumbass," he told her.

"Ow!" Ivy complained, even though I know it didn't hurt all that much. Even so, a little flicker of anger lit in me as he hit her lightly._ No one_ hits a girl, even playfully. She gave him a dirty look back. "_Anyway, _as I so delightfully wanted to do, Edward, Alphonse?" She turned to me with a bright smile that lit up her eyes and face. "This is Noah. 'Member that friend I told you I lost? This is him."

"Nice to meet you," I said, holding out my hand.

Edward half-smiled as he shook my hand. "Nice to meet ya, Noah. Name's Edward. But you can call me Ed."

"And I'm Alphonse," suit of armor said politely, bowing. "You can call me Al." He shifted uncomfortably, looking at Ivy...hopefully?

"Why are you staring at me?" she asked, straight to the point with confusion lacing her face.

"Is he...uh...from...?" Al asked.

_Oh._ I get it.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm from the other side—" Ivy cut me off by slapping her hand over my mouth.

"He's from my world too," she said quickly, laughing. She turned to me with a _'are you fucking kidding me?'_ look and told me, "There's no need to say that you're from the other side of _Amestris_ anymore. We can trust them with knowledge of being from a different_ world."_ She was a really bad liar, but it seemed like Ed and Al bought it. Did she not want them to know about the gate or something? I thought they could be trusted? I shrugged it off though, and gave Ed and Al a fake smile and nodded my head.

I was going to make her explain later.

* * *

XoXo... Ivy's POV ...XoXo

I stared up at the big wooden doors that were Mustang's office. If I open those doors, I'll be able to meet the entire crew. Riza, Havoc, Breda, Fuery, Falman, and even Black Hayate. I stared down at the linolem white floor in anticipation, my hands getting clammy and sweaty just thinking about it.

_Oh...my...GODDESS. This is actually happening. I'm meeting them! I'm meeting them for real! _

I scanned over my attire quickly. I only had a pair of jeans and a purple t-shirt with my leather jacket. _Is that really okay to wear for meeting them? Or should I have gotten a cute dress or something? Oh goddess, what if they think I'm just a stupid kid?!_

_Stop panicking, _came my inner voice. _Why the hell would they care what you wear? The only thing they'll care about is your knowledge of_ _their future._

_Inner voice is right, _I told myself. _All you're doing is going all fan-girl on yourself. Just walk in and answer all their questions._

"What are you waiting for? Just go in already," I heard Ed huff.

I turned and glared at him. "Hey, shut up! I'm just freaking out a little, alright? Ever meet a high up military personnel?" I asked pointedly, and when Ed blinked, I shook my head. That was a stupid question to ask _him_ out of everyone. "Never mind..." I heard Noah laugh and I turned and glared at him, but when I saw him smiling, my eyes softened. Honest to goddess, when I saw that he was okay I felt like crying. Yeah, yeah, _'You just met him! How can you care that much?_' Well, I don't know how! I just did. We're going to be stuck with each other for a while, so might as well get attached while I can, right?

Wait. How do I know that we're going to be here for a while?

"You alright?" I heard Noah ask, a hand on my shoulder. "You aren't talking."

I looked over to him, and when my eyes locked with his forest green ones, I felt flustered and quickly snapped my head back to the wooden doors. "Y-yeah! I'm fine! Let's go, shall we!" I said, a smile plastered on my face as I turned and shrugged his hand off, trying to be brave. I kept walking, my back straight and nose upturned with bravery. However, my face decided to face plant directly into the doors, squashing my nose like a toasted marshmallow in a graham cracker. "Ow..."

I heard laughter soon after and I looked back to see both Ed and Noah laughing their heads off. I scowled, holding my nose while glaring at them. Unfortunately, my voice came out slightly nasally. "You guys better not get along too well! I don't want_ two_ people always making fun of me." I winced with my final word, my nose whining in protest. Great. Now my nose started to throb a little.

The door opened and I yelped in surprise, jumping a few feet back so I didn't get whacked with the wooden doors again. For some reasons, all doors hold grudges over me. When someone cleared their throat, I looked up in horror to find none other than Riza Hawkeye, staring down at me like I was a crazy person. "I heard a thump. Did you knock?" she asked, stoic faced.

I shook my head rapidly, my nose once again yelling in protest. "N-no! I-I just banged my nose against the door by accident..." I said, my nerves taking over me.

It didn't look like she cared all that much if I got hit upside the head with a hammer. In fact, she motioned to shut the doors in my face. But once she saw the people around me, AKA: Ed, Al, and Noah, and noted herself how old I was, her face softened a little and she stopped moving to close the door. "Are you alright?" she asked, eyeing how I covered my nose. "Does it feel broken?"

I laughed nervously. "Not at all! Maybe bruised, but not broken!" I took my hand away from my face frantically,to show her. However, my hand gleamed with blood. And whoa-ho! Surprise, surprise, it was _my_ blood! "Oh, shitzu..."

Riza smiled at me lightly, but then it faded quickly as she remembered her post. "How about you come in and treat that bloody nose," she said, and even though she offered for me to come inside, I noted that she didn't once move to open the doors for us. "I'm First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye. And you are?"

I smiled up at her as much as I could without my nose throbbing. "I'm Ivy Thompson. Thank you." When I said my name, Riza stiffened up and sent alarmed glances at Noah.

Noah didn't seem to notice her glances until she cleared her throat. He shook his head and turned his attention to her, blinking as if to acknowledge her presence. He nodded, still a little late. "Yep. The friend that came here with me? This is her." I smiled at her childishly, waving a little. She shook her head, sighing something about 'teenagers' and handed me a hankey.

I wiped my nose clear of blood and applied the bandage over my nose that Riza gave me. For some reason as soon as she heard my name, she got all stiff and looked at Noah frantically. When he nodded again, she loosened a little but didn't stop her from observing me like a hawk. She definitely lives up to her name. When the guys starting walking in, I followed quickly after, still in shock from meeting Riza. It especially didn't help my nerves when I saw the entire crew.

I shrunk under the intensity of everyone's eyes on me and stood next to Noah. He nudged me in the shoulder and told me 'not to freak out'. Easier said than done, Noah. "Um, hi everyone," I started. I bowed (an annoying habit I got from Al in the few days I've known him) and then looked up at everyone. "I'm Ivy Thompson. Sorry to interrupt...whatever y'all were doing before..."

When they continued to stare at me, I sucked in a breath of terror and made my way to each and every one of them on legs of jelly.

Havoc greeted me warmly and acted as if nothing were wrong which I appreciate; Breda offered me food when I first introduced myself which I found hilarious (But I accepted the donuts. Hey, don't look at me like that! I was hungry). Fuery was almost like the shyest guy I've ever seen—he stuttered and blushed like crazy until I tried to reassure him by saying I was nervous too; it didn't help much, but he seemed to stop stuttering. Well, you know about how Riza and me met—me with a banged up bloody nose and nervous like hell. Falman was too uptight and stiff when I met him, but I knew that was just how his character was so I let it go.

And Mustang? Well, let's say that it's happening right now.

"Everyone, clear out. I wish to speak with Ms. Thompson alone. First lieutenant, you can stay." I watched with dismay as every soldier left the room, leaving me and Roy and Riza alone. Once they left, he looked at me in shock. "What _happened_?" he asked and I had no idea what he meant. A lot of stuff happened, what did he want to know? I guess he noticed my blank look because he pointed at all my bandages and stuff. "Did something happen?"

Well, his first impression of me was going great, right? As I spoke, I gestured to each part of my body with explanation. "Uh...Well, the head and arm bandages are from a chimera attack, the band aids on my legs were when I scuffed them up falling down the stairs, and the one on my nose is from running face first into your door..." He looked at me strangely. I rubbed the back of my head. "Y-you asked..." I said, as if it would help.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. "Yes; I did ask. And I got an answer," he answered, somewhat irritably. I suppressed myself from shooting off a sarcastic remark when he said that. "And I'm still trying to get my head around the fact about the _chimera_ attack...?"

"Uh...it's kind of...a long story," I answered uneasily. When he stared down at me, I shrunk under his intensity. Was he always this intimidating?

I heard Ed groan. "Cut to the chase, Colonel Bastard. Quit stalling so you can size the kid up," he snapped. I looked back at them in surprise; I almost forgot that Ed, Al, and Noah came here with me. Nonetheless I was thankful that I'm not doing this alone.

Mustang chuckled as he rested his chin on his folded hands. "You sure know your boss well, Full Metal," he said, almost smugly like he had something up his sleeve. "The girl just came up by such _short _notice that I didn't have time to prepare myself.

It didn't take long for Ed to blow up. "WHO YOU CALLING SO SHORT THAT NOT EVEN ANTS CAN SEE HIM?!" Al held him back, fortunately. Seeing his short rant in person made me think he was actually going to go up and strangle Mustang.

"Ed, it wasn't that bad," I tried to soothe because it seemed like Al wasn't doing so well holding him back. He snapped his head to me.

"HE CALLED YOU SHORT TOO! AREN'T YOU MAD?" he shouted in shock, almost like he expected me to freak out just like him.

"I'm thirteen. I'm allowed to be short," I stated clearly, somewhat confused.

"IT'S NOT ABOUT AGE! IT'S THE PRINCIPLE!" I would have laughed it it weren't for Mustang studying me like I was a piece of merchandise.

"Enough of the small talk," he started, narrowing his eyes at me. "Tell me _everything _you know."

I gulped. Well, he goes straight to the point, doesn't he?

Yeah, he definitely had the most intimidating stare I have ever seen. I felt my cheeks heat up when it does when I'm nervous and I ducked my head down to stare at my feet. It didn't really work because I felt his gaze piercing me like a spear. I looked to the side when someone nudged me in the ribs. It was Noah. "Don't worry. He's not as scary as he looks," he said and winked, trying to cheer me up. My face heated up and I looked at my shoes again. I took a big gulp of air and tried to look up at him. Seeing him just made me squeak under the pressure.

"D-Don't stare at me like that!" I exclaimed unintentionally, looking at him exasperatedly. "If you want a coherent response, intimidating me is so _not _the answer. Trust me! Whenever people try to intimidate me and it works, I just about lose my head and can't answer correctly and I forget things!"

My answer seemed to amuse him because he leaned back in his chair, a smirk on his face. "That's the point of trying to intimidate people, sweetheart. But at least you're honest," he half praised. I can't tell if he's sarcastic or that's just how he talks. I sighed.

"Then let's start over." I looked down and then looked up with a big smile on my face. "Hiya! I'm Ivy Thompson, and you are?"

Mustang just rolled his eyes and held out a hand. I took it and shook it. "Colonel Roy Mustang: The Flame Alchemist." He drew back his hand. "You have a strong handshake."

"Thanks, I guess," I said, smiling ironically. "A lot of people tell me that."

He smiled and I had to blush. (What? He's a cute character.) "Well, Ivy, you're a lot friendlier than Noah and Full Metal, I'll give you that." I grinned at that and stuck my tongue out at them.

"Hear that? I'm friendlier than you guys," I teased making Noah chuckle and Ed roll his eyes. I looked down and sent nervous glances back up at Mustang every once in a while. "So, uh, you said that you have questions to ask me?"

"How did you get to Amestris?" he immediately asked. I looked at him with a 'really?' look. Just going back to interrogation mode right when I thought he might be pretty cool was kinda rude. A least he knows that me and Noah aren't from here; I don't have to explain that.

"Well, you don't wait, do you?" I asked under my breath. My hands started to get all fidgety and I knew I hand to do something with my hands. I took out my pocket watch and started to fiddle with it. "Well, me and Noah were—"

"How'd you get that watch!?" Mustang exclaimed loudly, cutting me off. I glared at him.

"You want me to answer but you decide to interrupt? How rude!" I said, sighing. He raised his eyebrows that I called him out on it, and I realized what came out of my mouth. I shrunk back out of embarrassment. "I know that all y'all are going to have too many questions to count, so how about I just start from the beginning?"

Mustang looked smug with himself as he rested his chin on his folded hand again. I immediately knew that this is what he wanted in the first place. Darn him. "That would sound _lovely."_

I sucked in a breath. "Well, let me just tell you, in my world, all of you and all this is just a fictional story. Two actually."

Mustang furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Explain."

"I mean, all your lives? It's all a story." Mustang and Riza stared at my blankly, looks of frustration evident on their face. "It mainly centers around Edward and Alphonse's lives, but since you guys met, I know about all of you too. Your ambitions, your pasts, your futures." I knew I just hit a part of their brain that they didn't find possible, but I continued. "I've read both of them—there are two different versions. And this pocket watch?" I held it up. "It's merchandise for the story. Anyway, me and Noah went to a library and we found this book. I saw a transmutation circle in it, and for fun, I clapped my hands and touched it. I didn't think it would work, but it started glowing purple and sucked both me and Noah in it.

"After that, I found myself in a place I had no idea where I was. Next thing I know, Scar comes and tries to make my face _ESS-PLODE!_—" Yes, I said it like that with dramatic hand gestures to show my brains blowing out. "—and I barely manage to not get killed long enough to find Edward and Alphonse. I woke up in a hospital and then me and Al went shopping—it was really fun actually!" Blinking my eyes, I refocused them on the task at hand and my nostalgic smile faded. "Anyway, back to the point, to try and find Noah, we took the train to Central to file a missing persons report." I smiled and whispered the next part. "Thank Goddess that we didn't have to though.

"But before we got there a chimera just went up and attacked for no flippin' reason and tackled me to this trench thingy. I tried to fight Ugly, but, as you can see, I'm not such a fantastic fighter." I pointed to my bandages. "But when I ran away from Ugly, I met up with..." Was it safe to tell them about the Homunculi? I guess it was okay as long as I explain it to Ed later...

_No. Don't you _dare_ tell them about her. You'll ruin everything._

What? But, if I set them on track, everything should be fine, right?

Don't._ You'll. Ruin. Everything!_

I gulped.

"You met up with _whom,_ Miss Thompson?" Mustang pressed further, narrowing his eyes at me. I immediately turned defensive.

"I-I don't know! It was dark, I got attacked, I was bleeding—how do you expect me to know?!" I exclaimed, wrapping my arms around me, remembering that day as if it just happened. Lust was holding me up my shirt, one of her long spears gliding against my arm and traveling up to my neck. The smell of my own blood filling my nose as the warmth and coolness running down my neck slowly, surely, as if it knew itself I was going to die.

I shook myself a little to get a hold on myself. I was being weak, fragile. If they see me like that, they were never going to respect or trust me. I let go of my arms and lifted my gaze to look at both of Riza's and Mustang's eyes. Eye contact was key, right? I hope so, at least.

"It was a woman. She didn't say who she was," I answered quickly and rushed to the end of the story.

"Anywho, the woman sicced Ugly on me and I nearly got killed. And...I had a pocket knife..." I trailed off, remembering that horrible night. I felt tears prickle my eyes and my cheeks burned in embarrassment as I blinked them away. In my peripheral vision I saw Edward go stiff and Alphonse look at me in sympathy. "Well...let's just say that...I don't think I'm going to see Ugly ever again..." A lump formed in my throat but thankfully my voice didn't go shaky. I felt like I was about to cry, but at the last moment I held the tears back. I felt Noah ruffle my hair up and rub my shoulder comfortably. I couldn't help but smile at that. "Let me move on.

"After she left, I had to go the hospital again—I _really _hope that I don't have to go there ever again—And after that, we came to Central and I found Noah. And...well. That's about it. Any questions?" I asked, looking up at both of them.

"We're...part of a fictional story?" Riza asked.

"Uh, well..." I stammered. This was probably the most startling information one could give someone. "In a sense, yes. But now that me and Noah are here, I guess it wasn't so fictional after all...I wonder if you guys have a story about us. Do y'all have a story about a world where alchemy doesn't exist?"

I heard Al and Ed jump in surprise and I looked back at them. "I-I still can't believe you live in a world where alchemy doesn't exist..." Al said.

"How is that even possible?!" Ed exclaimed despite knowing it already, staring at me and Noah incredulously. "You mean that you couldn't do alchemy period?"

Noah shook his head. "It died out a long time ago when none of it worked. I think around the 18th century."

Edward sighed. "At least it stopped not too long ago. That's just a century behind."

That was when I started to feel guilty. Did I ever mention...the time gap between our sides of the gate? "Uh, about that too..." All eyes looked at my accusingly, and I had to force the next words out of my mouth. "Well, that's a wrong statement for me and Noah." All of them turned their heads toward me, including Mustang and Riza. "Time on our side of—" Shitzu. I need to remember not to reveal anything about the gate. Cover up quickly, Ivy! "Sorry. Still used to saying the other side of Amestris as a cover up. I mean, in _our world_, time moves a lot faster than here. We're kinda" I shifted nervously. "...in the 21st century."

I felt kind of bad lying about the Gate, but if I let it slip, who knows what disasters may follow? It's best to keep my knowledge secret. I'm sure Noah hasn't seen the anime or read the manga, so I'm the only one who knows. Just greeeat...Another strike of my bad luck.

The room fell silent.

"You live...in the 21st century?" Mustang asked incredulously.

"It doesn't seem plausible," Riza agreed.

I groaned in frustration. They've _got_ to be kidding! I_ knew_ they wouldn't believe me! Damn it! "I'm not lying!" I said defensively. What can I do to convince them all this is real?

I heard Noah growl as he stood up, and a weight lifted off my shoulder. I blushed, realizing he must've kept holding onto it to make sure I was calm. How sweet of him...back to the present, Ivy!

Noah's green orbs were flashing in irritability and exasperation. "Okay, let me get this straight: You guys believe that me and Ivy are from," he glanced at me, "a different world, that some book pulled us into Amestris, that you're lives were fictional to us, Alchemy didn't exist...but you_ don't_ believe that time on our side—in our world moves faster?! That's a load of bull!"

"That's where you stand corrected, Shasta," I heard Edward interject. I looked back at him frantically. He sat in a chair with both his arms and legs crossed, eyes closed and eyebrows knitted together in either concentration or frustration. Please tell me that _he_ believes us! I thought I settled this! "It's not that we don't believe that time moves faster in your world; we think all of what you're saying is a lie. After that whole 'I'm from the future' card you pulled, I came to my senses."

My heart broke. Ed didn't believe us either. Is this really it? We're going to be stuck here forever?

"No!" Noah burst out, clenching his hands into fists. "We're telling the damn truth and you better believe it! I understand if you don't believe a word _I_ say, but _Ivy_? You've got to be frikin' kidding me!"

Noah...He was still fighting and what was I doing? Sitting here having someone else fight my battle. I'm so pathetic.

"I think they're telling the truth."

I lifted my head up and stared in wonderment, my heart slowly beginning to form back up again. Alphonse stood up, hands clasped into loose fists. "I mean, what benefit do they have saying all of that? Besides, what Ivy has in her watch is proof enough that she isn't lying about her story. Why else would she have that date in it? No one else knows about it except me and Brother."

"Al!" Edward exclaimed, staring at Alphonse like he'd grown another head. "You actually believe their story?"

"Why wouldn't I?" he asked. "All of it seems plausible. She proved it when she told us about what she knows about all of us!"

My eyes glittered in hope. That's right. They only believed me when I told them what I know that no one else does. "Ask me anything!" I exclaimed, overcome by sudden confidence. "Ask me anything that you think no one else knows and I almost _guarantee_ that I will know!"

Mustang frowned at me. "You really think that you'll know?"

Noah just ruffled my hair again and leaned an elbow on my shoulder. "She's a fan girl of your story. Hell yeah she'll know!" I was kind of put off that his reasoning was because I was a fan girl, but I couldn't object because I knew it was true.

Mustang leaned forward. "Just because I think it might be fun, sure. What do I plan on doing for my future?"

I grinned. "Couldn't have picked an easier one. You aim to climb the ranks and become fuehrer of this country." Mustang's eyes widened a little but nonetheless his poker face stayed. "And one day...when you're fuehrer and everyone is obeying you, all female officers will be required to wear..." I tried to pull off my best Mustang impression. "TINY MINISKIRTS!"

At that comment, Mustang nearly fell over and his poker face was broken. Both Edward and Alphonse burst into a laughing fit. It must have been especially funny because I saw Riza smile a little. He growled in anger as he leaned forward again. "Okay, lucky guess..."

"Completely spot on," Edward snickered.

"FULL METAL!"

"And you like dogs!" I interjected again. Thank goddess I have a weird memory...I remember the scene perfectly. "You LOVE dogs! Dogs embody loyalty! They follow their master's commands above all else! Be a jerk to them and they don't complain and they don't ever beg for a pay check! TRUST ME; THEY'RE THE GREAT SERVANTS OF MAN! LOYAL CANINE HOW WE SALUTE THEE! AHAHAHA!"

Mustang looked like he had just seen a ghost. Or that he thinks I've gone insane. Either one fits his expression at the moment. "H-how did you...?"

I just grinned. "Told you that I read your story." I looked around. "Speaking of, where _is_ Black Hayate?"

"He's at home right now..." Riza answered uneasily. "Not too many people know about Black Hayate."

"Any more questions?" I asked, just begging for more ways to prove myself.

"What type of transmutation circle do I use for my alchemy?" Mustang asked.

I scowled at him. "I told you that alchemy basically doesn't exist in my world. How in the world would I know what type?" Mustang smiled smugly and I wanted to wipe it off his face. "I don't know what type, but I do know that in it has a salamander symbol in it. It's used for fire. You have it on your gloves. When you snap, I think something reacts when you rub your fingers together and the elements in air around you. And them, _boom! _Instant transmutation."

"Who was my master?" Mustang asked again. He was just prying for a reason to say that I was lying. Well, two people can be stubborn, bub.

"I don't remember his first name, but it's Ms. Hawkeye's father," I replied. I looked at her. "And...I know about," I glanced around me, and I lowered my voice, "your back."

"Lieutenant, don't—!" Mustang exclaimed, but it was too late.

That did it. Riza jumped up from her chair, pointed her gun straight at my head. "How do you know that?!" she shouted, her ultimate poker face destroyed. I was kind of shocked that_ I_ caused it to shatter, ME out of everyone, but I wasn't all that terrified that she pointed a gun at me. In fact, I just found myself studying the gun she was holding in her hand. What was it? Was it silenced? Possibly an alchemically enhanced weapon? I couldn't help it; I had a fascination with guns ever since my dad took me to the gun range. Call me crazy, but I fell in love with gunnery.

_Quit trying to avoid the subject. That's a terrible nervous habit to have._

I shook my head. This was no time to be admiring the gun she was using to hold at your head. "I told you. What I am telling you guys is the truth. I have no gain in lying to you. I'm a TERRIBLE liar!" I looked at Riza in sympathy. I hoped I could send the message: _your secret is safe with me _through my expression and eyes. "Ms. Hawkeye, I..."

She looked at me, her mahogany gaze shooting me like a bullet. As soon as she locked eyes with me, her poker face returned and she disarmed her gun, putting it back in her holster. "Colonel, I apologize for my misconduct, sir," she said quietly, darting her eyes away from mine.

Mustang just sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "It's fine, lieutenant...I'm sure we're _all _shaken up about the information Ms. Thompson has supplied us with." Thompson. He used my last name. Was that a good thing, or bad thing? He glanced at me and sighed again. "Quit panicking, little girl. You're not in trouble." He narrowed his eyes, but I'm positive that it wasn't intended at anyone. "_What_ are we going to do with you?"

* * *

**Nikkome: Phew! What a chapter!**

**Ivy: This is the longest one, right?  
**

**Nikkome: ^-^ Yep! I'm pretty happy with it! But I think the quality of the chapter went down as it progressed...'^' I'm gonna have to work on that...  
**

**Ivy: *Sigh* At least you're starting to make me more like how you_ really_ are FINALLY.  
**

**Nikkome: ^_^ You think so? Great! Because I think I actually captured it well for once!  
**

**Ivy: don't let it go to your head...  
**

**Nikkome -_-" Why do you have a COMPLETELY different personality in the Author Notes but another in the story!  
**

**Ivy: because you feel weird basically just talking to yourself?  
**

**Nikkome: touche...touche...UNTIL NEXT CHAP! =**:D


	7. Sudden Circumstances

**Chapter Seven: Sudden Circumstances  
****_AKA: Who Thought Reading Could Hurt?  
_**

* * *

_**Ivy's POV  
**_

I carelessly threw all my items from my suitcase into the drawers. My mind was somewhere else that I didn't care about the neatness I would typically put all my belongings in a foreign place. Mustang had generously given me a room for myself, as staying with the Elric Brothers had been, as he said, 'unsuited for a growing girl.' I was thankful for his consideration, but at the same time...

I was all alone.

Don't get me wrong, I liked my own space and time to myself. But it was so lonely. Not even Noah was with me and that was the most unnerving part of it. Ever since I had arrived here, my need for someone near me had increased. It was pathetic, I know, to have to rely on someone just be next to you. I groaned and hit myself in the head. _Stupid. Be thankful that you at least have a place to sleep._

I glanced around, inspecting my new dormitory; at least until I go home. It resembled much of an apartment; a small kitchen area, a bathroom. The only difference was that there wasn't another room as the bedroom and living room. The twin sized bed was off to the left, clad in navy blue sheets and two pillows. A wooden and small nightstand, where I put all my miscellaneous items like my glasses and pocketwatch...It's weird not having all my junk from home.

Anyway, the tall dresser stood about a foot smaller than me, contained with all the clothes that Alphonse and I bought, which I realized still only filled up about a drawer...Eesh. I hadn't had such a low amount of clothes since my sixth grade year when everyone forgot to buy me clothes and I was stuck with either clothes three sizes too big or two sizes too small and only a few that actually fit me. The dresser itself wasn't all that magical, like the entire room. Wooden bed frame, wooden dressers and nightstands, just a beat up dingy gray couch that matched the dark-wash walls and shaggy off-white carpeting that looked more like a gray than anything.

The kitchen was filled with a basic meduim-sized fridge and a steel sink. The counter-top was just tile of a boring tan, while the cabinets creaked when opened and one drawer was loose off its hidges, so I had to be careful when opening it, or else the entire drawer and its contents would spill over to the floor. The bathroom had a fairly nice bathtub/shower area with a steel showerhead and sink to match. The mirror over the sink was really filthy, so I managed to clean up the place a bit. I could tell this was a really old room of a past military personell, and I vaguely wondered how long ago anyone had used the room.

So, naturally, I thought the place was kinda banged up, but pretty fracking amazing. There was only one flaw (besides the creaky furniture and flithy contents and boring decor)...

I was completely alone.

I fell down onto the couch with a muffled 'ugh' and draped my arm over my face.

_Now what?_

The question kept playing in my head and then a mixture of my inner voice and my own voice would reply back with a really intelligent, _I don't know._ I was so caught up in the fact of finding Noah and having people not think I'm a quack that I didn't think of my next move.

_Research_, my inner voice told me.

I scowled at it, and said, "Well, no duh. But what kind?"

_ Alchemy. Alchemy brought you here. Alchemy is the key._

Getting frustrated, I fumed and crossed my arms over my chest bitterly, trying not to raise my voice at something so trivial as my own inner voice. "Alchemy this, alchemy that. I'm telling you, it's impossible! Not one person in history succeeded in using it," I told it.

_Maybe not on your side of the gate, but here it was_.

I pursed my lips in consideration. "Yeah, but what am I going to do about that? I SUCK at science."

_That's not true. You just found the subjects you learned about to be boring. You have the ability of critically thinking. It will serve you well._

I frowned. "Research on alchemy. Think critically. You are SO helpful, inner voice," I commented bitterly, rolling over on the couch and burying my face in one of its pillows, trying to muffle another loud groan. I childishly kicked my feet on the bed while waving my arms like a toddler having a tantrum, when someone clearing their voice made me stop my sudden insane breakdown.

"Uh, am I interrupting something?" I heard someone ask.

I jumped up with a girly squeak, bringing the couch pillow held tightly across my chest defensively. Sliding off the couch, and cowering behind the coffee table, I timidly peered my eyes over my pillow of protection to see Noah's green eyes scanning my every movement with confusion. I let out a long breath of relief as I put my pillow down and leaned back against the couch, my heart racing a mile a minute. "Don't _scare_ me like that!" I said and then crossed my arms over my chest, looking down at him trying to stifle his chuckles. My eyes narrowed at him. "How'd you get in? I locked the door."

He grinned at me. "I picked the lock."

I scowled and then threw my couch pillow of protection at him. "Jerk!"

He avoided the pillow by ducking narrowly, making it soar above him and hit the door. It slid down slowly, and he ran a hand through his mop of black hair, bending down and picking up the pillow, and placing it underneath his arm, hauling a paper bag in his hand. "Jeez, I'm sorry. If I give you a peace offering, will you not kill me?" he said and plucked something out of the bag.

I gasped in delight, barreling up and hopping to my feet. "OH MY FLIP! IT BETTER BE PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY!" I screamed, scampering over and snatching the sandwich from his hand. I unwrapped the napkin from around it and took a big ole bite, indulging in the taste. Yep. It was peanut butter and jelly alright. "Mmm...Oh my god...this is the best PB&J I've ever tasted!"

Noah laughed and had to show off a little by kicking the door closed behind him with the tip of his foot. "Yeah, yeah, princess." He took a bite. "Don't talk with your mouth full," he said doing exactly that, sauntering off to the couch and plopping down on it, smothering his face in jelly.

I rolled my eyes as I started chewing on my own sandwich as well. I followed his lead and made my way to the- or should I say 'my' now? -couch. I realized that he had sat down smack dab in the middle of the thing, so I awkwardly shuffled over to the edge, leaning on the armrest of the furniture while munching on my sandwich in silence. I took a big notice to how none of us said nothing in these few minutes as we ate, and suddenly I felt self conscience of my chewing and swallowing, so I nervously took a more proper approach of eating. It didn't seem like Noah minded and kept nonchalantly devouring his meal.

When I mousily finished my PB&J, I shifted uncomfortably, suddenly feeling responsible for our semi-awkward silence. "So, uh, why are you here?" I asked, trying to break the chilly silence. When I realized that that sounded a tad rude, I shook my hands in front of me. "N-Not to sound rude or anything!" I added as if it would help the situation.

He turned to me slightly, ignoring my obvious nervousness I practically radiated. "I had a few questions to ask you," Noah said and I was kinda jealous how he could act so casually when I was nervous as hell. For a reason, as my socially awkward self would never have the guts to actually explain sudden nervousness-itis.

"Like what?" I asked.

"Like when you interrupted me and covered up whenever we'd almost mention being from the other side of the gate. What's the deal?" he asked, looking at me.

His green eyes made me feel slightly flustered so I looked down at my shoes. "Oh, that...well, I don't think they're supposed to know about the gate yet."

"What do you mean?"

Sighing at my inability to explain things clearly for anyone else to understand, I began smoothing a lock of my hair between my fingers nervously. "You remember the manga and anime, right? I have a high suspicion that we're following them. Which one, I'm not sure..." I managed to look at him again. "In order for them to follow the storyline and not get them killed or something, we _need_ to make sure to keep the story on the timeline. If not, I don't know what'll happen."

"So, you're trying to keep the story on track?" he clarified.

I nodded. "Exactly. If it doesn't follow the timeline, something terrible might happen."

He sighed and looked at the ceiling. "But what about us?" Noah asked, still staring above. I couldn't help but to notice his deep green eyes set on something in the distance...Like he really was imagining something in the near future. I felt my face heat up and my imagination went haywire.

"W-what are you talking about?" I asked, hoping to Goddess he didn't notice the slight stutter. Sure, Noah was a cute guy and all and I sure as hell wouldn't mind going out with him, but right _now_? We barely know each other!

_It couldn't be that bad..._  
SHUT UP, INNER VOICE! Not to mention I was just thirteen...  
_Aren't you turning fourteen soon?  
_I _said,_ SHUT _UP_ INNER VOICE!

"How are we going to get home?"

Well, I feel stupid.

"Y-yeah! Home! That's right!" I said, maybe overly cheerfully, laughing nervously and rubbing the back of my head.

_You are so stupid. How'd you think that he was talking about dating?_

If I could punch my inner voice in the face without punching mine, I would delightfully take the chance.

Sighing, I started fiddling my fingers and tracing patterns on the sofa, aimlessly doodling nothing. "Well, I guess the first thing we could do is try to find the book that got here in the first place." I screwed my face into frustration and my doodling starting going faster. "Wait, scratch that. I highly doubt that the book on our side of the Gate is here."

Noah shuffled a little nervously. "Uh...actually, it is." I didn't know how those fake anime-style falls felt, but I just about did one.

"WHAH?"

Noah nodded once and lifted himself up a bit, fetching something from his back jean pocket. When he got it, he sat down normally again and put out his hand, his fingers holding onto something loosely. "I found the chick who wrote it and she gave me her notes."

"You found her?!" I exclaimed, looking at the journal. Okay, that just about made _no_ sense at all whatsoever. That was _way_ too easy, even for Noah. I hesitantly reached out, grabbing the beat up green notebook and laid it in my lap. There was no way in hell or in Hades' realm that he so happened to find the girl who wrote the damn book, and convinced her to give him her notes. While I was thankful this happened, it didn't sit right with me. Only bad things happened to me so far, and once again, I'm ecstatic that nothing bad happened to Noah, but _something_ was up with this. Too much of a coincidence, and I don't believe in coincidences.

"Are you magical or something, 'cause you're sure as hell lucky!" I said, putting it on my mental to-do list to check out the plauses for this situation. I gingerly turned the cover over, and what I found nearly made me faint right then and there.

"Yeah, her name was Erika Violet Evans. I told her the situation and she felt bad and gave me her notes, saying to protect it with my life." His face brightened with confusion. "Still don't know what that's supposed to mean, though."

I kinda ignored what Noah had told me, and turned the page, staring at the words that decorated the end of every paper. _Signed, Erika Violet Evans. _

But I don't get it! How?! At first I was just thinking it was a coincidence—there was no possible way she could exist. But, the alias 'Violet Call'? That was the same alias that she was meant to use, and the swirly cursive-y print told me another story. The scent of vanilla and lavender washed over me, as if she had sprayed the thing with perfume or she just kept it close to her at all times that it adopted her aroma. Vanilla and lavender perfume...swirly and cursive-y handwriting...The fracking name, 'Erika Violet Evans'!? All the evidence piled into place and slapped me with a cold fish at the revelation. She couldn't exist! She just couldn't!

For those who don't know to what I'm referring to, I'm referring to Erika Violet Evans...AKA: the OC I made in my 'Forbidden Element' series.

She was made up. A figment of my imagination and nothing more. Could some type of paradox happen in the lapse between time and space make not only what I created, turn into actual reality?! My mind raced with endless possibilites, and my little shaft of hope started to burn with a blazing light. With the calculations streaming though my mind, and what this notebook held as I rapidly sped through the pages, gave me more and more evidence to which I could reason the what, how, and why's. I'd have to do the math, of course, and I certainly could not do this without some sort of help, but if my theory is proven correct...

Suddenly, a smile began to grace my lips. "Noah." He turned to me with regarding eyes, inspecting my abrupt resolute and firm voice. His attention was fully on me. "Are you absolutely _positive_ that an _Erika Violet Evans _told you these were her notes?"

"Yeah..." he replied, looking at me with appraising eyes. "Why...?"

I grinned as I basically tackled him in another hug. "ThankyouThankyouThankyou~!" I squealed, squeezing him. I felt him stiffen as he awkwardly patted my back.

"You're welcome...?" Poor, poor Noah. He has no idea what type of breakthrough this is.

"COME OOOOOONNN!" I shouted, hauling him up to his feet and darting out the door. I held onto his wrist as I dashed through the halls of the Central dorms. I had to find Ed and Al! I HAD to!

* * *

**_Noah's POV_**

I wish I knew what came over Ivy when I told her about Erika. We zoomed through the halls, passing by confused officers and almost colliding with interns, going by the boring gray and white tiles with ease. I saw Mustang's large wooden doors become closer in sight, so I started to slow down...but it looked like Ivy didn't get the memo. Before I could shout a warning, Ivy's entire body slammed and plastered itself onto the doors.

"Ow..." she murmured, muffled by the wood.

I burst out laughing, unable to hold my laughter down. "How do you do that TWO times?!" I exclaimed, holding my stomach to lessen the pain going through it from my guffaws.

She peeled herself from off the door and held her head that was still wrapped in bandages from that 'chimera attack' she told us about. "HEY, SHUT UP!" She rubbed her head some more, wincing. She started mumbling to herself and I only caught, "Why does everything bad have to happen to me?!" Next thing I know, the door swung open, making Ivy yell and jump out of the way. A blonde head peaked out from the door, and I reognized her as Riza Hawkeye. Comparing her to Ivy, suddenly the brunette started to seem a hell of a lot smaller than I thought she was. Hawkeye wasn't all that tall, but when compared to Ivy...well...yeah.

"Did you run into the door again...?" she asked, searching Ivy for any more injuries, her eyes scanning her up and down. "Are you alright?"

"I-I'm fine!" she shouted, bowing (I wonder if she did that before, or it was just a force of being in an animated world). Hawkeye shook her head and opened the door wide as Ivy sprinted through them, her stomps echoing and stopping everyone inside. "MUSTANG!" she shouted and everyone in the room flinched in surprise, including me. Damn, this girl had some lungs or what?!

Mustang took a sharp intake of break, pressing his hands to his head. He gave her multiple dirty looks, and said through clenched teeth, "_What_ is it, Miss Thompson, that you believe it is SO important that you have to break the eardrums of all my subordinates?!" His yell was loud and he kept rubbing his temples. Probably because of the headache that he usually gets...Or the one he just got from Ivy's screeching.

"Where's Ed and Al?" Ivy asked in a panic, pacing all around the room like a squirrel on too much caffeine. When Havoc cleared his throat, she glanced up.

"Calm down, Miss Thompson. Worrying like you are now isn't good for your health," Fuery interjected, looking at her in concern. She smiled at him, but it quickly faded away as her restless pacing started again. She bit down on her lip and tried to stand in one place, but failing at not being able to do anything, starting smoothing a lock of hair between her hands again.

"Sorry to make ya worry, Fuery, but this is VERY urgent! Do you know where Ed and Al is?" she asked, trying to calm down her tone.

Mustang sighed. "I don't know, Miss Thompson, but—"

"THEN CALL THEM OVER SOON!" She basically screamed, running up and pounding on the desk, her face a mere inch away from his. When she realized what she just did, she reeled back in horror and covered her mouth. Mustang looked pretty suprised too as he stared at her in confusion and disbelief at what just happened. Like he never experienced anything like it. "Did I seriously just yell in your face?" she asked in horror, frantically bowing again. "I AM SO SORRY!"

"QUIT YELLING!" Mustang groaned, rubbing his temples again.

"I'M SOR—" she stopped herself quickly and cleared her throat. "I mean, I'm sorry," she whispered. But then she leaned in again, this time making sure not to get too close to him or his face. "This is about Operation: Ivy and Noah's Road Trip...?"

Mustang's eyes widened in recognition and cleared his throat. He stood up roughly, glaring daggers at all of his subordinates. "All of you, go out and find Full Metal! NOW!" he barked, making all of them snap a salute and start running out of the room to do as he said. He turned his icy stare toward me. I rose my hands in surrender.

"Don't look at me! Ivy's the one who started freaking out all of a sudden," I said, making him groan and shift his gaze again. However, as soon as he looked over at Ivy she sighed and/or groaned loudly as well.

"How many times have I told you not to intimidate me?! It doesn't work!" she tilted her head in consideration. "Well, it does work, but it certainly doesn't help! It just makes me lose my words! And I'm already terrible at talking to people, but you make it worse!" Ivy basically yelled (trying to calm her voice down, but failing miserably). She sighed, running her fingers through her hair, her bangs covering the entire left side of her face as she looked down at her feet. "I'm sorry for freaking out but this is kinda important..."

I sighed as I ran my hand through my hair. Man, I feel bad even though I didn't do anything...How does she do that? Make people feel bad without them doing anything? That is _so_ not cool...I've got to ask her how she does it later. "Just start from the beginning. That should help, right?" I suggested and her eyes brightened. She nodded, making me laugh a little by how childish she looked when her head bobbed up and down like a bobble-head.

"Okay, so, uh..." She looked down at her feet, bringing out her pocket watch and lacing it between her fingers and untangling them. "Oh, right!" She looked up, still messing with the chain on the watch. "Noah found something extremely important and, well, I thought it was impossible."

Hawkeye raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by_ impossible_?"

"Exactly that. Impossible," she replied, shifting her gaze to the notebook in her hands. Oh yeah. She still had that.

"You mean that book? Is it the book that brought you to this world?" Mustang asked.

I was about to reply, but she shook her head, making me silent. "It's something a little more..." She shifted her weight to one foot to the other, trying to search for the right word. "I don't know, insane?" She sighed.

"Get on with it, Miss Thompson," Mustang implored impatiently, gesturing for her to continue.

She paused for a second and then gripped the notebook. She was about to say something, her mouth open to speak and everything, but she eventually lowered it. "What happened recently?" she asked, making me raise an eyebrow. Why the sudden change in subject?

"I'd like for you to explain what is so 'insane' before you start changing subjects on me," Mustang said, voicing my thoughts.

She shook her head. "No, this is what I mean. What happened recently? Anything very...important happen to Ed and Al?"

Hawkeye and Mustang were silent for a while, seeming to think. As they thought, the doors to the office slammed open. I turned around quickly and sighed in relief when it was only Armor Boy and Shorty. "What is it?! Nothing happened to the kid, right?!" Ed shouted, stomping up to Mustang's desk. Alphonse closed the doors delicately behind all the crew (Havoc, Breda, Fuery, and Falman) and then turned around and walked to Ivy, ignoring his brother's outburst.

"Is everything okay, Ivy? They said you had a panic attack," Alphonse said gently.

She growled under her breath and then looked down shyly. "I didn't have a panic attack..." she grumbled. Shaking her head, she gripped Al's forearm, him flinching in surprise at her sudden movement. "Please tell me anything imperative that has recently happened!"

"Why?" Al asked. "Something wrong?"

"J-just tell me! I have a theory," Ivy said and then gripped Erika's notebook tighter. Realizing she accidentally gripped Al's forearm tight, she loosened her grasp and got down fully on the ground (She had gone on her tip toes to help her look eye to eye with Alphonse).

"Brother?" he asked, looking toward Edward for a response.

Ed sighed and scratched the side of his head. "I can't really think of anything..."

"Anything's important. Visiting some family friends, your auto mail breaking, or even some new alchemy research," Ivy suggested, eyes bright with hope. "Anything?"

Groaning, Ed threw his arms up while giving Ivy a dirty look. "Ugh! Can you just tell me what the hell this theory is?! How am I supposed to help when I don't know myself!"

When Ed raised his voice, I saw that Ivy flinched slightly and swallowed. Rolling my eyes and scowling at Ed, I walked up to her and put a calming hand on her shoulder. She looked up at me, and I messed up her hair, making her frown and wrinkle her nose at me. I smiled a little at her reaction and brushed her bangs from her face. "Look up more and keep those damn bangs out of your face." She blinked in surprise at me, but quickly tore her eyes away from me again. I sighed, and turned to Ed with a dirty look, putting Ivy protectively behind me. "Quit picking on her!"

Ed's comeback was immediate. "I'm not trying to! But when she's acting so silent and weird it's kind of hard not to lose your head!" he yelled back in reply.

I sighed, trying real hard not to have this fight. "Then give her some time to think. She's trying to help, you dumbass!" The last part slipped out, but amazingly, I didn't really regret it. I felt better about it.

Ed's nostrils flared. "_I'm_ a dumbass?! I'm more than likely fifty times more intellectual than you'll ever be!" he shouted at me.

I scoffed and stepped forward, my agression more towards him than trying to stick up for Ivy. "Trying to pick a fight, shorty?!"

"SHORTY?!" Ed shouted in anger and began to charge at me, pushing me back a little when he reached me. "Shut your mouth, Shasta! I don't see YOU helping in any way! Hell! Even the kid's smarter than you!"

I pushed him back, making sure to apply more force than he did, blowing him back another two steps. "I sure as hell may not be as book-smart as you, but I sure as hell have more street-smarts!"

"Running from the gutters like some rat I presume you got those street-smarts, eh!?"

At that, I growled at him and cocked my fist back to bash him right in the nose. He was starting to really piss me off! But before my fist could lay contact with the damn blonde, I saw Ivy run in front of him, putting her arms up in defense against me. I stopped short before I could touch Ivy, and took a step back. She glared at both of us, and pushed us apart, making me widen my eyes at how strongly she did. "BOTH OF YOU, SHUT THE HELL UP!" She looked us both in the eyes. "Jeez! You're acting like frikin' children on a playground!" Groaning again, she gave us both dirty looks. "Ladies, ladies! You're both beautiful! Now retract the claws! Jeez!"

I heard some of the crew chuckle lightly at Ivy's sarcasm, and I'll admit it was pretty funny, but I was still pissed. All I did was stand up for her, but what did I get? Almost getting in a fight and having the girl stop it. Why does this scene seem so familiar? I shook my head. Ah, well. The past is the past. I grumbled a few choice words under my breath and earned a hit in the shoulder, by Ivy. I saw her fiery eyes and her angered expression, making me sigh. She looked like she was my damn older sister and was angry at me for something. She'll never let this go if I don't do anything. So I inclined my head toward Ed. "Hey."

"Hm?"

"You piss me off," I stated bluntly. He blinked his eyes in surprise, but masked his confusion with a neutral expression.

"Likewise," he answered.

"Temporary truce?" I asked, hand outstretched.

"Until you piss me off again, yeah. Temporary truce," he replied, shaking my hand.

Ivy shook her head and pressed a hand to her temple. "You two...just...Never mind..." she sighed. She looked down and bit her lip like she was thinking about something and started messing with the chain on her watch again. "Have you guys met a man named Shou Tucker by any chance?"

Edward's and Alphonse's eyes widened as they looked at each other in silence. The room fell silent and everyone looked at their feet. Well. I guess _that's_ a yes. Who the hell is this 'Shou Tucker' guy anyway? I had a gut feeling that he was some bad shit, but what exactly? Ivy laced her fingers through the pocket watch chain again, almost OCD-like as she unlaced them again. "I'm guessing that's a yes..." I mumbled, going heard by the alarmed looks they all gave me. I looked around innocently as I tried to peel their eyes off my back.

"So, that whole Tucker thing transpired?" Ivy asked. "Including—" She stopped herself short as she looked around with startled eyes, staring at all the men in the desks just watching us. I raised an eyebrow when she laughed cheerfully, knocking on her head. "Oops! Almost forgot!" she chimed, grabbing Havoc's and Fuery's hand while pushing Breda and Falman out of their chairs. "I met this guy on the way here and he said for me to get all y'all."

Fuery adjusted his glasses that fell down his nose. "Who is he?"

Ivy shrugged. "I don't know. But he was as tall as Al," she pointed to Alphonse, "Had really big muscles," she flexed her arms, "and this..." she wrinkled her nose in confusion as she stared off into space, like remembering something, "_really_ weird curly piece of blonde hair hanging off his forehead," she put her finger up like a curl where this curly hair was supposed to be, "I think he said his name was...Something somethin'...Armstrong?" All of their faces paled. "He said," and at this point she deepened her voice and started flexing her arms all over the place, "Excuse me, young lady, but if you happen to come across four gentlemen going by the name of Jean Havoc, Vato Falman, Kain Fuery, and Heymans Breda, please be sure to send them off to my office! I'll be sure to repay you for your services as the Armstrongs have been known to repay all their debts for generations!"

"Oh crap..." Havoc murmured.

"W-what does the M-Major want with us...?" Fuery shivered, his knees buckling.

"He said to hurry!" Ivy began to shoo them away and then slammed closed the door with a big groan. "I really didn't want to lie to them..."

Mustang chuckled as he clapped slowly. "Well done, Miss Thompson. Well done. It was especially entertaining to see you imitate Major Armstrong."

Ivy just let her head fall into her hands. Edward raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said you were terrible at lying," he questioned, eyebrow raised. She snapped her head up.

"That was not lying! It was hustling! Acting at most!" she said defensively, fighting a red growing on her cheeks. I smirked at her.

"Well, well. Who knew the girl had it in her?" I said, making everyone nod their heads in agreement. Her face grew completely red.

"S-stop it!" She said, turning her head away. "Anyway, so you've met Shou Tucker?"

All joking in the room died as she said it. Ed cleared his throat. "Y-yes..." Was he stuttering? I've never seen him feel so uncomfortable.

"And so...Nina...?" she asked hesitantly. More uncomfortable silence. I sighed.

"Okay, can someone fill me in? Who's Shou Tucker and this Nina that made all of you so quiet?" I asked, annoyed with being left out of the loop.

"I-I'll fill you in later," Ivy said, pausing to look at Ed and Al who had grown completely immobile.

"No."

We all looked up to see Alphonse shift awkwardly. "It's alright to tell him...right Brother?"

Ed continued to look at his feet. Narrowing his eyes, he slumped into a nearby chair with a scowl and depressed look on his face. "He had to know sooner or later, right? Just tell him," he snapped, looking away.

I sighed again. "Look, if it's not a cool topic, we can just—"

"It's fine!" Ed snapped again. "Tell him, kid. So he can shut up about it already."

"O-okay," she said and then looked up, still lacing and unlacing her fingers in the chain of her watch. I guess it's a nervous habit of hers. She looked uncertainly at Ed and Al, and she paused at Hawkeye for approval for some reason. She smiled at Ivy, and with a little movement of her chin, Ivy nodded with a slight smile. Then she looked at me. "I don't know him personally, but I really do think he's an awful human being."

"Well, that was a great start for a story..." I commented under my breath out of habit.

She looked at me again in the eye. "He studied chimeras. They're cruel cross-breed alchemically created creatures of different animals. Tucker was known for creating a chimera that can speak the human language, therefore he was rewarded with a state title. But it only said one thing: I want to die." She looked down, almost like she was hurt talking about it. "He had a wife. Keyword being 'had.' He used her in the experiment to create a talking chimera." I felt my hands become fists. "And well, it—Rather, _she_—got her wish. She refused to eat and starved herself, dying of course.

"Later on, Ed and Al came to visit him for studying his method of alchemy. There's this test that all state alchemists have to do called the State Exam for the military to evaluate their research. He was panicking because his last exam didn't go so well and that he'd be stripped of his license. So...he tried to create another talking chimera." Her eyes grew dark with an unreadable emotion. "How else was he going to make it? Using his own daughter and dog."

"_That sick bastard!"_ I screamed out against my own will. Looking around the room with all their eyes on me, I glanced down at my feet in embarrassment as I sunk back down. "U-uh, um..."

"That's exactly what I thought," Ed voiced. I looked up to see him staring at his hands. "I beat the shit out of him, of course. He got arrested. But Nina, in her chimera state, was about to go to the labs to get experimented on so me and Al freed her and she ran away...Only for a report to come up that she had been blown up from the inside out, dead on a wall." His voice had become steel, his eyes the same. "A man going by the name of Scar had done that to her, and he almost killed me too. He goes after state alchemists to murder them," he added. "He destroyed my auto mail so I went to my mechanic's, Winry's, house to go get it repaired. And that's that."

The room was silent for a little. I hate bastards like that...Power hungry, money grubbing bastards...I despise them. They remind me so much of...

"But wait..." Ivy said suddenly, making all of us turn our heads up. "You're missing something."

"That's all," Ed pressed on. "There's nothing missing."

"No, no. Not from the Tucker case," she said, looking up. "After Scar showed up, you went straight to Winry's? You didn't take a detour?"

Ed scrunched up his eyebrows. "We went straight to Winry. What do you _not_ understand about that statement?"

All of a sudden, Ivy's eyes widened and she screamed. All of us went into freak-out mode of course because of it. There was a bunch of yelling, more shuffling, muffled cries until Ivy screamed again, "ALL. Y'ALL. _SHUT_._ UP_!" When we were all still freaking out, me included, Hawkeye brought out her gun, cocking it, and shot off one round, immediately shutting all of us up. Ivy turned to Hawkeye with a sigh of relief and a groan directed at all the guys. "_Thank_ you, Ms. Riza!" With another exaggerated look at all of us guys, she shook her head and then looked back up and looked Edward and Alphonse in the eye. "Okay. If this is true, then you two's story is already off-track."

Alphonse gasped. "Is that a bad thing...?" he asked shakily.

She nodded, making both of Ed and Al look at each other worriedly. She waved her hands in front of her. "But don't worry! This one thing can be fixed easily!"

"How?" Ed snapped, his eyes hardened in worry.

"Someone else was supposed to tell you but I guess I have no choice..." She sighed and then her eyes suddenly turned hard, stoic, and unreadable. "You want to know how to make a Philosopher's Stone, am I correct?"

Everyone's head snapped up. Mustang's eyes narrowed. "How do you _know_ about that?" he questioned. Ivy ignored him and focused her attention on the attentive Ed and Al.

"If you can look the truth in the face, then do it." At this, a small smile cracked her hard expression. And was it me, or did she look almost...sad? "Maybe then you can find the truth hidden _within_ the truth." Ed and Al's faces screwed into confusion. "National Central library. First branch. Go look for any notes written by a _Doctor Marcoh."_

"How do you...?"

"Just go now. You've already wasted plenty of time already." Ivy smiled as Edward and Alphonse bounded out of the room quickly, not even stopping for a single glance.

I stared at Ivy with a mixture of confusion, frustration, and amazement. Confusion because I have no idea what the hell any of this means. Frustration because I'm mad I can't be as knowledgeable as her. And amazement because...well...what other thirteen year old carries this much of a problem so...carefully? For a moment, my eyes and Mustang's met. And it looked like I wasn't the only one interested in what Ivy knows, knew, or has to offer. Suddenly, that feeling of being watched was on my back again. I snapped my head to the window where the same black thing I saw earlier was. I saw its eyes, and they were firmly searching Ivy. It noticed me, and then disappeared as quickly as it came.

* * *

**Ivy&Nikkome: OH CRAPPIES!**

**Ivy: UNTIL NEXT CHAP! D:**

**Nikkome: **=:D **( D: )**


	8. BooksBooks Everywhere!

**Chapter Eight: Books...Books Everywhere!**

**_AKA: How Do You Decipher a Code?_**

* * *

**_Ivy's POV..._**

How can things be so simple?! Something's not right here...It can't possibly be this easy. Just point Ed and Al in the right direction, right? That's it? Tell them what's missing, make sure they do it, everything falls in place.

Something just screams _wrong_ in this whole ordeal...

Take a breath, Ivy. Breathe. It's okay to breathe, right?

Propping my feet up on the coffee table, leaning back in the couch with a cup of water in my hands, I began to read Erika's journal. It made sense. I made Erika write her alchemy secrets in the form of a diary so no one would know her form of alchemy. Thank Goddess that was still the case...Accounting that what I thought Edward and Alphonse were like was completely wrong, that means that either I'm a horrible judge of character or that the portrayal of what the manga and anime had said about the characters are completely false. And knowing that I am pretty badass at judges of character, I'm going with the latter.

However...most of this plays into the original portrayal of Edward, Alphonse, and all the others too. Well...not exactly. According to what I received from my little 'interrogation' of the Tucker Case, not all of it is correct. So, more than likely, what I had portrayed Erika as could be tragically changed. And I'm pretty damn sure that my 'Forbidden Element' story is not at all what went down because I'm nearly positive Edward has _never_ met Erika before.

I shook my head and pushed my glasses up my nose, framing it perfectly over my eyes and continued to read. Read now, analyze later.

* * *

I closed Erika's journal and growled, clenching my jaw. "Frikin'...!" I shouted and stood up quickly, slamming the damn notebook on the floor. I was making up gibberish under my breath, half of it on the lines of curse words and the other half just angry unfinished sentences.

How can things be so difficult?!

Blowing a long gust of air out of my mouth, I ran a hand through my hair, obsessively scratching at my arm out of habit as I paced swiftly back and forth in front of the couch.

Okay, okay...Think this through, Ivy. Think what you would have made Erika write in code. Think what her solutions to the equation were. I kept thinking, but nothing came to mind. Nothing that made sense anyway. I had half a mind to start ripping the damn journal to shreds just because!

_You are so stupid._

I was done. I stared up at the ceiling, scowling, clenching my hands into fists. "What happened to critical thinking, huh?! You said it yourself, inner voice!"

_Perhaps I was wrong..._

I started nodding my head crazily, planting my feet on the floor. "Pfft, you got that right! Now what?!" I yelled, tapping my foot angrily on the floor with my arms crossed over my chest.

_Alright...think. You have no knowledge of alchemy itself._

"Yes. Of course," I said, rolling my eyes at the obviousness of that question.

_And you are searching for an alchemical answer, correct?_

"Implied, as I am PULLING MY HAIR OUT TRYING TO FIGURE IT OUT," I shouted to no one in particular. Man, was I glad that I was alone right now. I probably look like a crazy person talking to myself like this...

_Looking for an alchemical answer when you have no knowledge of alchemy itself. Aren't you bright?_

It took a while for that to set in. My leg stopped shaking, I stopped tensing the muscles in my torso and loosened my stance, my arms falling to my sides. As it finally comprehending in my brain what Inner Voice was getting at, I face palmed myself, groaning and literally falling to the floor clenching my head out of my own stupidity. "I AM SO _STUPID!_"

* * *

"You want to go to the library?" Mustang asked, looking at me incredulously. I nodded my head furiously.

"Absolutely. Yep, yep, and yep," I replied, watching his confused face contort in each question going through his head. "Any possible way I can study there?" I asked, hands gripped tight to my pocket watch.

Shaking his head and rolling his eyes, he put set his chin in his palm, staring at me with that typical _Are you Frikin' kidding me? _look. "What do you wish to study for, Miss Thompson? I'm not completely useless, you know—" _Until it rains, _I couldn't help but think. "—and neither are my subordinates. Or Full Metal for that matter. What do you need to study?"

"Alchemy," I said immediately, without a second thought. His brows rose with question and realizing the accusations of my statement, I quickly shook my head. "Don't get me wrong, I don't want to _do _it by any means. I just need to know the background of it, origins, methods, theories..." I shrugged sarcastically. "Typical homework."

"And what's so wrong doing it, Miss Thompson?" he asked accusingly, and I couldn't help but flinch at being called 'Miss Thompson.'

"Nothing! Nothing at all!" I laughed nervously, rubbing the back of my head. "Why would there be something wrong with alchemy?" Seeing the amused yet very confused stare he was giving me, the smile on my lips quickly faded and I awkwardly stared at my shoes. "Well...yeah. It's serious business stuff. Stuff that needs research on alchemy. Big stuff. Serious stuff. _Urgent_ stuff."

He smiled at me again, shaking his head and taking a deep breath. I think that smile was the most genuine emotion I've seen on his face. Like, ever. Unfortunately, it didn't last long and it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. "Alright then, Ivy. You can choose from any of my subordinates and they will take you personally to the library where Full Metal is."

Something struck my mind. "But, how about Noah? Can't I just go with him? He _is _kinda involved in this..." I trailed off, glancing at the 'outsiders' (AKA: the rest of Mustang's crew except Riza) and not wanting to reveal anything about my, uh, predicament (Being from a 'different world' and knowing all their stories and all that jazz).

"No," he said firmly without a single millisecond of hesitation. He then commenced loafing through a pile of unwanted paperwork gathered on his desk, clearly dismissing me.

And for some odd reason, that pissed me off just a little bit.

"What's wrong with Noah taking me?" I asked defensively, straightening up my stance. I didn't really know how all of a sudden my courage returned, but yeah, I'll admit it. I was pretty ticked about his attitude on this. Mustang's eyes just met mine and narrowed.

"Nothing. I just don't think it's such a safe decision to leave someone of _your_ knowledge alone and vulnerable," he said giving me a more piercing look as if daring to defy him. I suppressed a loud groan as I bit the inside of my cheek. Hell; sure I told them about Lust (or 'this woman' as I told them) and the stupid chimera that attacked me, but I think that was a once-in-a-lifetime encounter.

_Stop lying to yourself. That statement was even dumber than you when you're high off of sugar._

Okay, maybe the Lust thing wasn't a once-in-a-lifetime encounter accounting how I pissed her off and she knows that I know about her being a Homunculus and the others (GOD I am such a dumbass!) but Ugly the Chimera isn't going to see me (or anything else) ever again. I would like to think that she wouldn't like to attack in a populated area; especially in Central of all places. Though I probably shouldn't be betting all my marbles on that one...who knew what could happen.

"To the normal eye, I'm just a stupid girl walking with a friend of hers to a library. I don't think anyone will think a girl who falls flat on her face every three seconds is as..." I rolled my eyes. "...'knowledgeable' as I am," I said, putting air quotes around the word, suppressing a very loud groan at the statement. Hell, I know I'm not the smartest person in the world. I know fairly well I'm a complete ditz three-fourths of the time! I mean, I can barely stand without falling, yet he thinks I'm so 'knowledgeable'? I'm starting to question his sanity for that.

Mustang just glared at me. "You're still just a kid; I don't think it's safe."

I glared right back. Huh. Maybe this is why Ed hates Mustang so much. "Okay, I know I said you can call me 'kid' but that doesn't mean I'm physically unable to take care of myself. I'm turning fourteen in about two weeks or so. And Noah's a year older than me!" Seeing his annoyed stare, I put my hand at him. "You let Ed walk around unsupervised and he's targeted by fracking Scar!"

His eyes narrowed. "And so were you. Hence, it's not safe. Scar will attack at any given moment." He paused and tapped his chin in thought. "And now that I think about it, it's not safe for Full Metal either. Maybe I'll assign him a body-guard, and you one as well."

My eyes widened. I am _so_ not going to win in an argument against Mustang. I shook my hands in front of me. "Nonono! That's cool, that's cool! I'll take one of your subordinates to take me to the library! All's good!" I laughed nervously at the end. Apparently that satisfied him because he smirked at me.

"Smart girl. Now choose."

I sighed as I glanced around the room, happy to find that no one was paying the slightest attention to me. I really didn't want them to pay attention to what I was talking with Mustang about. They'd probably think I'm spoiled or something. My chocolate brown eyes spotted Riza's desk and I stiffened, knowing what I had to do. I confidently (shakily) walked over to Riza's desk where I took in a deep (shaky) breath. I started to nervously play with my hair as I spotted her cleaning her favorite pistol...what was that anyway? A .45? Or can it be a glock 9mm...? Pft! Please, Ivy, glocks aren't inented here yet! ...Are they? That would be seriously cool if they were!

Get it together, damn it!

"Um...Ms. Riza...?" I asked, cursing myself for the quibble in my voice. She looked up to acknowledge my presence. "I was just wondering—you can deny if you want to—if you could, possibly, take—accompany!—me and Noah to the library?" I cursed myself again, wishing I could start beating myself with my pocket watch. She studied me for a moment and then closed her eyes, slowly standing up to which I immediately straightened up, ready to snap a salute when I realized I wasn't part of the military so I didn't have to, and awkwardly forced my hands in my pockets.

"Shall we go now?" she asked to which my eyes widened. I shook my head, making my way back to the door, placing my hand on the cold metal doorknob.

"Um, not right _now_ exactly!" I said quickly, slowly inching the door open. "I'll go find Noah, get dressed and ready and stuff and then come right on back!" I saw the exasperated expression on her face and then quickly added, "I'll be back in about...ten minutes! At most fifteen!"

And with that, I clumsily fled the office cursing at myself for making a complete and utter fool of myself in front of Riza.

* * *

_**Noah's POV**_

I walked down the HQ halls, whistling a random song, bored out of my mind. You'd think being in a military HQ would be exciting or something, but _nooo._ It's boring as hell! No emergency drills, no boot camp training, or emergency calls calling the police's attention. By the way, is the police even in the same category as the military? Is it like America, where government and military are two separate things? Speaking of America, do they have a president too like us? Do they have the same type of animals in Amestris like America? I know they have chimeras and stuff, but aren't they made of regular animals like monkeys and crocodiles?

Realizing the song I was whistling was Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People, I sighed. I didn't realize how much I missed the radio. I leaned against the dingy white-gray walls, staring at my beat up black and white converse. How long have I been here again...? _Seven days._ Only a week? Really? It went by so...quickly. I figured it would seem so long, like a type of hell. But, it wasn't like hell. It seemed more like a dream than anything.

The type of dream I'm still hoping to wake up from.

Something sped on by, running past me while leaving a gust of wind behind them. Turned out that it was a person, and rather short by the look of it. I didn't manage to see who it was, but I did see that their shoelace was untied. I was about to call out to them a warning of the untied shoelace, but it didn't look like I had to. They stepped on it, making them fall to the ground with a _thud!. _I flinched at seeing the fall, thinking it probably hurt. A lot.

"Crap!" a female voice yelled out, making me realize that the person who fell was Ivy.

"Ivy!" I called, jogging over to her side and crouching down beside her. She was biting her lip while clenching her fists, trying to lessen the pain as she rubbed her left arm delicately...her arm that I realized was covered in bandages. Panic rose in my chest. "Shit, are you okay?" I asked, reaching a hand out to help her up.

She blinked her eyes, looking up at me as if just noticing I was there. She sucked in a breath and looked away, making her bangs fall back in front of her eyes as she quickly pushed herself up as if she had never fallen. I followed her up and stood next to her, hand still out to help her if necessary. She smiled at me and looked up to look me in the eye. "Noah! Great; I was looking for you."

"You were?" I asked, confused. "What for?"

"I convinced Mustang and Ms. Riza to let me and you go to the library to get some books." She blew out a little gust of air as she added under her breath with a little bit of exasperation, "Though we need a babysitter, apparently..."

I was still a little confused. "Books...?" I asked, feeling a little bit stupid right about now.

She scrunched her eyebrows, squinting her eyes at me in confusion herself. "Research to get back home...?" she answered, making me get a light bulb.

"Oh yeah!" I said, a little embarrassed at how slow I was. I shoved my hands in my pockets and glanced at the ground. "So you got an idea already to get us back home?"

At that, the brightness in her eyes faded a little bit. "Well...no. Not exactly..." she said, her tone seeming a little bit defeated. "I know what we need to read up on, but that's about it..."

I sighed through my nose, seeing how disappointed she seemed to be in herself about not knowing what to do. I patted her gently on her shoulder, smiling slightly. "Well, that's good! It's a start, right?" I said, trying to cheer her up.

She lifted the corner of her mouth in a small half-smile, but it quickly disappeared. "It's a start, alright." She shook her head as if she was shaking away any of those thoughts. "Well, I need to go get something real quick from the dorm. Are you all ready to go?"

I looked down. A basic black t-shirt and rugged jeans. Mustang managed to find his old clothes from when he was my age (I still don't know why he kept them) and gave them to me to wear. There wasn't much else I had. I looked back up. "Yeah, I'm all good."

We walked down to Ivy's dorm that was basically like any small college dorm. Except a little bit more basic. She immediately passed the couch in the middle of her room and walked over to the nightstand next to her bed, where a pair of black framed glasses were. I had no idea where they came from, but she picked them up and slipped them on, to my surprise.

"You wear glasses?" I asked, a little bit louder than I intended to. She looked over at me like she thought I was crazy.

"Um, yeah..." she said and self-consciously adjusted them, pushing it farther up the bridge of her nose. "I'm a little bit far-sighted so they're just reading glasses, but I sometimes just wear 'em just to wear them...Why? Do they look weird or something?"

Instantly, I shook my hands in front of me. "No! That wasn't what I was getting at, at all!" I said quickly. "I'm just not used to seeing them on your face is all."

Next thing I know, she laughed. And I got confused.

"What?"

"This is the first time I've ever seen you flustered!" Ivy admitted, still laughing slightly, covering her mouth the best she could. "So let me get this straight: facing Roy Mustang and the crew, perfectly fine. Learning we're in FMA, absolutely normal. But me wearing glasses? Worst thing in history."

I felt my face heat up and I looked away, shoving my hands in my pockets. "I told you I didn't mean that they were weird! I just...!" I rolled my eyes, turning around so she could stare at my back. "Ugh. Just never mind." I felt her eyes on my back and she just giggled, shuffling around for the other thing that she needed.

When I was sure that she couldn't see my face, that's when I dropped my smile and slumped my shoulders, my eyes staring down at my shoes. If only she knew how freaked out I actually am about all of this. When I woke up on the streets, in some place I didn't know. _Alone_. Where I had to fend for myself, no one there to help, somewhere foreign, somewhere I didn't know where to find help. Feeling helpless, throwing all rational thought behind me.

I pretend that I know what I'm doing. I joke around. Pretend like it's not a big deal. If I do that, then maybe it can't hurt me. If I pretend like it doesn't scare me, then it won't be able to hurt me, right? And eventually all this pretending will become real. Then I won't be scared anymore.

_"So you're finally here? It took you forever. But no matter. You're _perfect_ for this."_

I took a big breath and let it out, pushing aside all thoughts of that behind me. If I pretend like it doesn't scare me, it can't hurt me.

Ivy's voice brought me out of my thoughts. "You ready?" I looked up and she was in front of me, smiling brightly and cocking her head to the side with her eyes bright with hope.

I blinked my eyes, snapping myself out of my daze. I brought back up my old smile and straightened out my shoulders. "Yep. Lead the way."

* * *

_**Ivy's POV**_

As Ms. Riza lead us out of Central HQ's doors, I told Noah to wait behind us while I talk to her for a little bit. He seemed kind of confused of why I wanted to talk to her alone, but eventually he abided by my wishes and loafed around behind us. He cast me a few unsure glances, but I smiled at him encouragingly and motioned to him that it wasn't all that serious. After I was sure he wasn't listening, I looked up at the blonde next to me.

It definitely hadn't left my notice that she constantly stole glances at me in some unreadable emotion. Her face had remained emotionless, but her eyes told me a different story. I knew what she was thinking, and honestly, I _really_ needed her to trust me. If she didn't...well...I'd tear myself up for that.

"Ms. Riza?" I asked as she kept staring forward, ignoring my presence as if she hadn't been coldly calculating my every movement before.

"Yes?" she asked curtly.

"Don't worry," I said simply. Confused, she glanced at me quickly, still moving forward and ignoring the loud boisterous swarm of people around us, rushing to go wherever they needed.

"Is there something for me to be concerned about?" she asked professionally, fully intended on not showing any emotion possible.

Ignoring her question, I cut to the chase. "Your secret is perfectly safe with me."

She stopped walking, her eyes narrowed as she turned her head toward me. I didn't know what she was feeling (Anger, sadness, regret?). All I knew was that I had to convince her. I kept eye contact, not budging an inch. After a moment, she quickly began to start walking again, her eyes set on in front of her, not sparing me a second glance. "The library is just around the corner, Ms. Thompson."

I clenched my hands into loose fists. "I mean it," I told her solemnly, my eyebrows furrowing. "I won't breathe a word. I won't mention it ever again. Your back, your past. It'll all be a forbidden subject. Never spoken of, never even remembered. It'll be like it never existed."

"Ms. Thompson, we're almost there. I suggest you get whatever you need quickly, as I'm sure Colonel Mustang will need me soon," she responded, completely ignoring everything I was saying.

"I'm serious!" I exclaimed, exasperated. "I won't—"

"Ms. Thompson," she cut me off, staring at me with those piercing gaze of hers. "I thought you had said that the subject would be as though it had never existed. So why are you continuing to speak of it?"

It took me a while to comprehend that statement. So much so that I had slowed to a stop, making Ms. Riza walk on ahead, and Noah who was behind me to ram into me, making me almost go off balance. I began toppling forward, but luckily Noah grabbed me from the back of my shirt and steadied me.

"Whoa! Jeez, don't stop in the middle of the road," I heard him tell me, mildly annoyed. When the tall blonde looked over her shoulder, eyebrow raised in questioning at me, it finally hit me. A huge smile ran across my face, those big ones in anime where the person's eyes are closed, a toothy lopsided grin. I wanted to scream in happiness, but maybe I shouldn't, considering everyone's philosophy isn't the same as mine: 'Let them stare!'

"So you do...?" I asked, my words trailing off as I didn't finish my sentence

She didn't smile, she didn't blink, but she did nod at me. And that was all the clarification I needed.

I tried wiping the smile off my face, but it seemed like my face muscles didn't want to listen. I had to settle with the embarrassing huge grin of mine, but I didn't really care. "So, are we off to the library?"

And all of a sudden, it rained down over me.

My smile faded as quickly as I had thought of it. "Ms. Riza, where is Edward and Alphonse?" I asked, slightly more like demanded as I stared up at her.

"Where you've told them to go," she answered me slowly, studying me intently. "Is there something wrong?"

"Please, take me there!"

* * *

**Noah's POV...**

Hawkeye lead us down the streets, us running like bats out of hell to Central Library. As we panted down the streets, Hawkeye shouting at pedestrians to get out of the way, I glanced back at Ivy. She struggled to keep up with Hawkeye, but I saw that she was pushing herself to even get ahead of me. Her face was tense, a nervous sweat rolling down her temple. What was wrong?

Thank God/deity/Buddha/whatever is in power that we finally made it to our destination. Before Ivy could even stop to rest, she stared up at the monument sized library, the white marble finish and towering Greek-like pillars all there for her to look at. She stared up at it for what seemed like forever to me. Catching my breath, I managed to clasp her shoulder, shaking her a little bit to get her to look at me. When she turned to me silently, her eyebrows were scrunched in confusion, her eyes wide and almost scared.

"Ivy?" I asked, making her jolt back into reality.

She let out a long and big gust of air, like she was throwing away something she was thinking about by exhaling. She looked back up at me, her bangs hanging in her eyes. She then smiled at me. "Sorry, I was just confused was all."

I let go of her arm, taking a deep breath myself. "You scared me for a little bit there." I searched her face for any answer. "Why come here all of a sudden?"

Hawkeye stepped forward, easing her tense shoulders and calming her before panicked expression (in other words, pinched eyebrows and an even more piercing stare. Nothing else.) "I would like to know as well," she told Ivy, staring at her expectantly.

Ivy glanced back at Central Library and then shook her head. "It's nothing, really," Ivy said, ignoring our previous questions. "Something just went for the better is all," she answered, her fingers twitching as if it wanted to mess with something, but she obviously forced her hands as still as she could get. Any normal person wouldn't have noticed that, but I was weird like that.

"Miss Ha- Riza, is it alright if we go on in? I kind of want to check up on Edward and Alphonse," Ivy asked.

It surprised Hawkeye a little bit to hear Ivy call her by her first name, give or take a 'miss' in front of it. Figuring now wasn't the best time to call her out on it, she just straightened her shoulders like all was business and started forward, me and Ivy following behind her in tow. I counted the stairs to go up into the First Branch. Thirteen. A little bit of a bad luck number, but that was just superstition. I glanced at Ivy quickly from the corner of my eye. Ivy was thirteen, right? Suddenly my stomach lurched. Stuck in a world she's already wary of with just me by her side. _She puts a whole new definition of bad luck to the number thirteen._

When we got to the big gaping wooden doors to the library, I noticed there were small wooden carvings of squares. Out of curiosity, I counted those up too. Twenty one on either door. Uneven number. I wonder who designed it that way to make an uneven number seem distributed equally? I shook my head.

_You're letting your mind wander again, Shasta, _he heard his voice scold him again, in habit ever since he was little.

Hawkeye showed the guard up front her I.D. and he opted her and me and Ivy admittance. As Ivy stepped into the library, she seemed to slow down, her enthusiasm and courage gone like it deflated out of her. Her head looked down at her feet and she seemed almost uncomfortable for some reason, and she shrank back like a child. Okay, yeah, fine. She _was_ still a child. But she just seems a little bit different for that word, you know?

After staring after the entire library two story, two wooden staircases on either side of the building which I counted steps as forty on either side even, multicolored dingy carpeting that looks like different shades of gray, white walls, and about fifty large bookshelves strung around the room, not accounting the second story of walls of book shelving- Ivy looked up at Hawkeye hopefully...almost like she was asking permission from a parent or something. Only when Hawkeye nodded at her did she start on forward quickly.

I followed after her a little bit late and surprised, having to rush to get behind her again. As we headed down the small hallway-walkway thing in between the sets of bookshelves, her eyes darted everywhere to find Edward and Alphonse. Luckily, it didn't take long for us to find them hunched over a table, so out of place as a splash of a very red flashy coat and a seven-foot suit of armor. Books were piled upon piles and scattered papers and crumpled up notes splayed all over the place. They've done some fucking research, or what?

Ivy's face half loosened in relief, the other half seeming to be tugged with some sort of strain. "Edward, Alphonse," she called, trying to get their attention.

Thankfully, they heard her and looked up. Edward's golden eyes seemed to brighten a little as they saw Ivy and Al openly...smiled? Well, it seemed like he was anyway. "Ivy!" they both greeted.

She smiled, her bangs still falling in front of her eyes. Her smile quickly faded though. "So, you've found Dr. Marcoh's notes?" she asked.

Ed just scowled, glaring down at the book in front of him. "It's an easy code to crack and not that hard, but I'm still trying to figure out what you meant by that 'look for the truth hidden within the truth' crap."

Ivy blinked. "How long do you think it'll take you to crack the code?" she asked.

Alphonse looked up at her, looking at her startled as if she shouldn't know something. But I guess he shrugged it off when he looked down at his own notes. "We don't think it'll take longer than three days. That's tops. Why?"

Ivy shrugged. "Just wondering," she answered. She studied the piles of work on the table. "Hey Ed, how many alchemy books do you have?"

Ed's eyebrow raised in question. "Quite a few. Why?"

"I might need to borrow them," she answered again curtly. She then started sweeping all of their notes into a neat pile, never glancing back up. Ed's hand flew out as if to stop her from doing, his mouth open to form a protest but she cut him off. "Let's finish your research back at the dorms," she offered, but to me it didn't really sound like a request.

It seemed like Edward didn't catch on. "Why?" he asked, as if he'd stay here just for the sake of not doing something he was told to do.

"Please?" she asked, looking up at both of them. "It'll make me feel better that you're closer," she paused for a second. "if I need help on anything or you vice versa, you're not that far away."

Edward and Alphonse stared at Ivy for a long time. Eventually, they both let up and Ed sighed. "Okay, fine. We'll have it your way, kid."

* * *

We all traveled back to HQ and Ivy ended up borrowing a few books from Edward after all. When she asked for the Alchemy books, he gave her a strange look but she just gave him a strange look back and told him, "What? You expect me to die of boredom for three more days?" And at that he just rolled his eyes and pushed his books at her in a dismissing gesture. I helped Ivy carry some of the books out. 'Quite a few' books in Ed's mind meant bringing an entire mini-library of the things. And they were thick. What we were carrying was only about a third of what he meant to give us, so Ivy had to do some talking telling him these would be perfectly fine for now. He seemed a bit skeptic on that, as if he thought we could finish this amount of books in one day.

When we reached Ivy's room we both dumped the books off on her table and then collapsed on her couch. I yawned loudly, covering my mouth and all. When she looked at me, she started to yawn too and then scowled when she did and smacked me in my arm. "Don't do that! Yawns are contagious!"

I couldn't help a small laugh. "What? I'm not allowed to yawn now?"

She shook her head. "Not now. I still have things to do today," she told him.

Warily, I looked at the clock hanging on the wall. "But it's almost eight..." I trailed off.

"Exactly." All joking died within her as she picked up an alchemy book labeled _Beginners. _"Then I should start, huh?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Erika's notebook on the floor as if it was thrown there. I was about to say something but when I turned back to Ivy, her face was stuck in the beginners alchemy book she had picked up. I sighed. I figured I should probably get out of her way so I stood up and walked out the door, only a glance behind me to see Ivy still reading the book, not even noticing I was gone.

* * *

**Me: soooo yeah. Not sure how to comment on this. Woohoo...?**

**Noah: really? forgetting about someone...?**

**Me: ohhhh! *smiles widely* I remember now, but I'm not saying.**

**Noah: -_-**

**Me: Okay, Until next chap! Please review~! **

**-Nikkome out.**


	9. Our Story Straight

**Chapter Nine: Our Story Straight  
****_AKA: Why Use The Pity-Card?_**

* * *

_**Ivy's POV...**_

_The underlying meaning of alchemy is Equivalent Exchange. Even when departing that chemicals and atoms of one such object and recreating something, the matter must be same, the same worth, or the same amount in order for the exchange to be equivalent. If somehow the particles one matter change does not meet the other end equally, the entire transmutation will become incomplete and not function as the new creation you had intended. If somehow one part of the exchange is higher than the other end, it can rebound. _

That was how it actually looked like. But what it meant was:

_Equivalent Exchange important. _

And that was why I hated science.

* * *

I kept reading even though the wording irritated me. If we were going to get home, one of us had to understand how. I got us into the mess, I'm going to get us out.

I learned a lot over 'studying.' By legend Alchemy was created by a house-wife that was trying to make dinner for her kid and performed the art in her own knowledge and boiled water. It was...half-true, I guess you can say. In actuality, it was pro-created/accidentally created by the woman's husband. He was a retired scientist that was trying to make a living by becoming an artist and so he practiced by making his own utensils and such around the house. He had created the pot that his wife was using for cooking, and on the bottom of the pot his own 'art' was fused with his science. The wife was getting frustrated and only wanted the water to boil so badly, her concentration and her contact with the husband's symbols and 'art' had made the transmutation possible. And so, the first transmutation circle was created.

Since then, studies have just expanded from there. More thought was put into symbols that represented what element, new intricate designs were put into to concentrate pure energy and distribute equally to what elements it is in contact with. The concept of a circle isn't much of a demand, more of a safe-haven and from habit. The bottom of the pot was circular, therefore it was only natural for the practice to continue.

Well, that part was actually a little shaky. A lot of the methods today, in fact, all of the methods needed today for complete transmutations need a circle in order to transfer the energy and matter correctly.

Most of it made sense scientifically, but if you looked at it rationally, how in the hell do symbols and drawings and circles work to make things? It never worked in my world!

Oh.

I raked a hand through my hair, fixing my bangs and hair that was probably a mess. I needed a shower. I was about to stand up when my eyes caught sight of the books in front of me, my notes all sprawled out in messy order, none of it quite in any particular organization. My hands twitched as it motioned to grab the pencil again, to pick up the book and finish it off since it was close to the end. I only had about twenty pages left. Why had I stopped? Why didn't I finish the book off and my notes for book one? I was pretty immersed in it. If I finish it, I can go on to the next, make my notes, and go on to the next book. I'll start a roll.

I almost did pick up the book again when I noticed the time. _4:23 AM. _I didn't sleep. _At all_. I sighed and stuck my hand in my hair again, running my hand through and untangling all the stuck together strands. Well, it was too late to try and force myself asleep. And it was too early for me to call it a day. After having a debate in my mind for the last three minutes, I stood up and went to go take a shower. I'll take a shower, wake myself up, then continue my research.

_You're not committed._

I stopped in my tracks, glaring down at my feet. I haven't heard Inner Voice in a while. I was kind of hoping that it wouldn't be there to bother me anymore. "I'm just taking a break," I said.

_A break? You can't afford to take breaks! Did you just completely forget about Noah?_

I felt my hands clench into fists at my sides as it mentioned Noah. "I'm just taking a break," I repeated, my voice rising and I found myself getting apprehensive for some reason. I wanted to defend myself about Noah. Of course I hadn't forgotten about him. He's the first thing on my priority list. His return was the biggest and foremost thing I had to worry about.

_If you were your father, he wouldn't take a break. _

At the mention of my dad, I felt my chest tighten. I missed him so much...

_What if it was Jordan that was here with you? Or Kylie, or Asha? You'd be snapping your neck and running circles to get them home. You're-_

"_I'm just taking a goddamn break!" _I shrieked, shocking myself at how loud I was. I _never_ got angry. I shook my head, over and over again, loosening my fists and closing my eyes. My voice was just a whisper then. "I'm just taking a break."

After that, I ran into the bathroom and turned on the shower, stripping down quickly and then stepping into it, letting the warm water run down my body and loosen my tense muscles. I never got angry. Ever. What was it, then? What made me feel like that? I shook my head, smiling wryly at the tile beneath me. It was nothing; I was probably just tired because of the lack of sleep.

I wanted to stay in there forever, but eventually I left, feeling more refreshed and wide awake. I snagged underwear, a bra, another pair of jeans and a simple brown tank top. I quickly slipped them on, for some reason feeling weird about changing in the new room. After I fully dressed, I turned to close the drawer when something caught my eye. In the corner was something purple. I stopped momentarily, just staring at it. And then I realized what it was. It was the hoodie that I was wearing when I was pulled in...

I pulled it out and slipped it on, pushing the sleeves up my elbows and zipping it halfway. Then I walked back to the couch, picking up the book from where I left it, my other hand finding the pencil and rolling it in-between my fingers as I continued from where I left off._ The flow of energy between the alchemist and their transmutation is protruded from the concentration of one such..._

* * *

_**Noah's POV...**_

I rolled over, my eyelids peeling open as rays of sunlight managed to hit me from the curtains. I groaned, staring up at the ceiling, the covers from the stupid bunker bed feeling itchy and uncomfortable all of a sudden. I flung the covers off my body, forcing myself into a sitting position and wincing when a crick in my neck whined at me.

"Crap..." I mumbled to myself, yawning and massaging the tense part in my neck. The bed was firm, but that wasn't the problem. It was the pillow. Frikin' thing had to be fluffed, moved, patted down, and hell of a lot of other stuff in order for it to be comfy enough to sleep on and I still got a stiff neck.

I sighed and then got off the bed, shuffling over to the kitchen-dining area whatever and to the fridge. I opened it up and got the milk out, reaching for a glass and pouring it out.

Mustang had given me his old bunker dorm that he used to board up in when he was an officer. He kept it clean and kept the fridge in decent condition, which I'm IMMENSELY grateful for right about now. He told me the only reason he keeps it like this is because he still sometimes uses it himself when work gets too much and he can't go back home. So, if worse becomes worst, I can either room up with Ivy or stay and be roommates with Mustang.

The room is basically identical to Ivy's. The only difference is that mine was more lived in so the sheets are a new deep red and in the white space between the dresser and nightstand for Ivy, there's a desk with some paperwork and old letters in the slots. There were locks on the drawers, and even though I know I could pick them, I didn't just because I wasn't interested.

I had taken a shower last night, so I didn't now and just pulled a basic white shirt over my head and slipped on some jeans. I raked a hand through my hair and debated whether or not to put a comb to it. I shrugged and decided to just brush my teeth and start my day.

After brushing my teeth with the extra toothbrush I found in his medicine cabinet, I headed on out. I didn't really have much to do around here, making me extremely restless. I had nothing to do. Figuring I could probably pass my time, I headed out to Ivy's room. I wonder if she's even up. She doesn't seem like a morning person. She seems like those people that sleeps in till noon and stays up late.

I walked the rest of the way and actually let my mind wander for once. At first it got really random. Like I stared at the tile on the floor and started thinking about the little game I used to play as a kid where I wasn't allowed to step on the cracks. That the squares were what saved me from lava. And then I kept wondering why Ed wore such a bright frikin' red jacket. Sure, you can't lose him in a crowd, but red doesn't really match with everything! I kind of wished I had the guts to wear something like that, but it isn't really my style so oh, well. I think I'm more of a leather jacket type of guy. What type of style does Ivy have? She doesn't really strike me as a complete girly girl for some reason...

I kept thinking like that and I almost passed up Ivy's dorm. I tried shutting off my mind, but since I had it started, I couldn't make it stop. It was hard muffling my thoughts; that's why I don't really let it wander. It was really difficult to shut it off once it started. I shook my head quickly and then knocked on the door. It kind of surprised me because usually I don't knock. I just walk in. Yeah, I know that's a bad habit, but it just kind of happens.

There was no answer for a little bit and I figured she might be asleep still. I was about to turn back around and just take another walk around HQ for a while when the thought of all the books Ivy got from Ed yesterday...maybe I can grab one and help her out with 'studying.' Hell, maybe I can get a clue into what alchemy was and maybe find some knowledge on how to get us back home. I spun back around and twisted the doorknob, forgetting I had to pick the lock to get inside.

Lucky enough for me, the door clicked open. Raising my eyebrow, I decided what the hell, and walked on in. I expected Ivy to be passed out asleep because of how early it was, but when I walked in, I saw her fully awake, a book in her hand and a pencil in the other. She never looked up at me so I think she didn't even notice I was in here. Just to see, I slammed the door behind me, making her jump and nearly drop her book. When her eyes shot up to me, I just grinned and she rolled her eyes, letting out a long and loud exhale of relief.

"_Jeebus_, Noah!" she exclaimed, putting her book upside down on the table. She stared at me incredulously, an obvious glare in her eyes. "Nearly gave me a frikin' heart attack!" She waved her hand around emphatically at me. "You scared me half to death! I was secretly dying in those few seconds, just to let you know!"

I couldn't help but laugh as I scratched the back of my head. "Just didn't seem like you knew I was here."

Her cheeks seemed to redden a little bit as she glanced back down, but she smiled. "Yeah, sorry about that. Sometimes when I read, I block out the world. Sometimes I ignore the teacher in class because of it. My friends yell at me about that a lot." She seemed to laugh a little at the end.

It was then that I noticed all the scattered paper on the table with some words scrawled on top of it seeming rushed. I didn't know what it was, so naturally I went up and looked. I picked up a random paper and studied the cursive-print decorated all over it, noticing how Ivy sometimes connected letters with the next ones. It seemed a little similar to Erika's handwriting, but that didn't really matter. The paper was a mess of bullet points and arrows, and it kept going on about different years of some type of history and Equivalent Exchange.

"What's this?" I asked, eyeing all the papers that I finally noticed covered the entire length of the coffee table.

"They're my notes," Ivy replied. I plopped down on the couch beside her and I couldn't help but notice that rather than sitting on the couch, she sat against it and on the floor. I mentally rolled my eyes. Weirdo.

"Notes...?" I trailed off, motioning for her to explain.

She picked up another book that was set down next to her on the floor, flipping through the book aimlessly. "The sheer volume of the text is too much for me to remember without rereading for who knew how many times." She shut the book with one hand and then put it in her lap, scraping at the torn out notebook papers scattered around the table and piled them up in a neat stack. "It was an old studying technique that I picked up. If I wrote out what I read, it'll be easier for me to remember and hopefully memorize the information I learned." She gathered everything into a neat stack and tapped the edges against the table to straighten them out. "Of course my notes are in my own words and are the condensed version of what the text depicts."

"Ah," I said, my attention span running thin and my mind starting to wander again, against my better judgment.

"Science always words a simple concept completely exaggerated and elaborated upon to confuse you and make yourself doubt what you know." She sighed and said the last part under her breath. "I frikin' _hate_ science..."

I half smiled in sympathy and reached out my hand. "Can I see?" I asked and she looked at me incredulously, blinking her eyes. I shrugged. "All this is the way to get back home, right? I'm not gonna sit on my ass and do _nothing_. If I can learn this crap, I can help out."

She paused for a second and just studied me, her dark brown eyes inspecting me and staring straight into my eyes. It made me feel a little bit awkward, I'll admit, but for some reason I couldn't look away. We stayed like that for a few more seconds until she sighed, turning away and handing me the stack of papers.

"Sorry if you can't really understand them," she apologized, adverting her gaze.

"I think I can manage," I told her, though I wasn't so sure. I didn't have the best grades back home, and whatever grades Ivy got, I'm sure if she doesn't get it all I sure as hell won't have a chance in hell at understanding.

I took the papers from her, raising a brow at how thick the stack was. I sat back and started leafing through them, glancing at Ivy every now and then. She got her nose stuck in another book, her hand every now and then tracing words on the paper in front of her to take notes or 'simplifying' the text. It was then that I noticed the book she was reading was at the beginning few pages, maybe just twenty or so pages in? How did she get this many notes from just that?

That was when it occurred to me that earlier she flipped through one of the other books as if she were looking back on it. The books Ed handed us were pretty thick; my guess was up in the high hundreds of pages. This amount of notes couldn't have come from just a few pages, that I was sure of.

"Ivy?" She looked up at me, her glasses falling down the bridge of her nose a bit. "What time did you go to bed last night?"

She paused for a moment. "Pretty late," she told me slowly. "Why?"

I ignored her question. "How much were in those few pages you just read that made this many notes?"

She was silent for a little bit. I just kept staring at her until she answered my question, but she still stared down at her pencil, stopped at mid-word and was silent. She took a deep breath in and then looked up and smiled at me, really wide and big. Her smile didn't really fit the mood we were in. "I finished one of the books! Isn't that great?"

My eyes widened. "What the hell, Ivy! Those books are like a thousand pages!"

"The first one was only five-hundred-and-twenty-two," she corrected me quickly, as if it made it all better. "I read pretty fast. Besides, I skimmed through a lot of it and just took the notes on it, so by technicality I didn't read it completely."

I just shook my head and reached down, grabbing the thick book that was in her lap and then flipping through it to the last page, ignoring her protests. 522 pages. Okay, so she wasn't lying. But, still! I looked at her accusingly. "How late did you go to sleep last night?" I asked again.

"Pretty late," she insisted immediately, her eyebrows pinching. "I told you that I read it without pausing to understand it all. I just rewrote the important parts down is all. No big deal."

I kept shaking my head. I didn't know why I was so against this. I mean, she finished a book of the things we needed to go back home! Woot! So, why wasn't I happy about it? For some reason it didn't settle right. I shook my head one last final time. I'm so weird. Shut up and be happy, Shasta, why don't you? "Whatever," I forced myself to say, leaning back in the sofa and looking down at the notes in my hands.

I tried to end the conversation at that point before I got too pushy with the subject. I started reading the notes, already getting confused with where the arrows and the bullet points started and ended. When I saw from the corner of my eye that Ivy finally turned around and continued reading, I let myself relax and actually start trying to learn.

_Alchemy as a concept was procured and founded by Nicholas Flamel, a harmless artist said to have dabbled in alchemy. Was the first to think of alchemic equations. Said to have created the first Philosopher's Stone, Elixir of Life. Formally known to have broken through the process of—blah, blah, blah—whereabouts not known of since his alleged 'death.' Had created the—whoa. Holy Shit. Some long word that I don't know the meaning of—Only known for his expansion of the Elixir of Life, to which the remnants of his notes had been cremated. Blah, blah, blah, something or the other about not really being an alchemist himself. Some other dude did the first transmutation circle—Blah, blah, blah, whatever the hell that is—the symbols inside of a transmutation circle—Oh, I guess a transmutation circle was a circle with a bunch of different symbols and crap to help with alchemy. Huh._

I wanted to smack myself. Concentrate, damn it! For once in your life pay attention, Shasta! I hadn't even gone through a single page and I was already drifting off. How did Ivy do it, just sitting down in ONE spot, doing ONE thing, for HOURS?! I contemplated reading farther, but the words seemed to fly off the page, almost like they knew it was useless trying to be there for me to pay attention to. That was when I started noticing all the small things, started wondering about everything and paying so close to detail.

Ivy's handwriting was really similar to Erika's. She curved her letters and connected them at the end in the same way. There were a lot of crossed out sentences on the notes and smudges too, most likely because Amestris in the early 1900's seemed to not own any erasers. Which kind of sucked. A lot.

I glanced back at Ivy, not knowing what else to do with myself. Lucky for me, she didn't really notice me staring at her (which sounds completely creepy. I don't mean it that way! I was just bored!). Her hair was put up in a loose bun, some of her hair coming loose and framing around her face. Her pointer finger tapped impatiently on the pencil, as if it were itching to write anything down. Her deep brown eyes were darting side to side, reading, basically skimming through the words quickly, like she was in a rush. In my short examination, my eyes scanned over her profile and I perked up in surprise.

"Cool earrings," I commented, and making sure she heard me I reached over and tapped the steel pistols pierced into her ear. She flinched when my fingers touched her and she moved her head to the side more so her ear was slightly less out of reach.

"Huh?" she asked and then gingerly reached up to trace her own piercings, her fingertips brushing over the small metal pistols. She smiled lightly at me. "Thanks. They were my second pair."

"Cool," I responded curtly, studying them some more. "Didn't think you were into that sort of thing."

She scrunched her eyebrows a little, her smile fading. "Oh? Just because I was a girl, right?" she asked defensively, putting down her book on the table and crossing her arms over her chest, staring at me accusingly.

"Well, yeah," I replied, straightening my own stance. "Usually girls your age are into make-up and stuff."

She rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Tch. You're such a guy," she muttered under her breath.

I abandoned the stack of notes on the table in front of me too, mimicking her stance and crossing my arms over my own chest. "And what's that got to do with anything?"

"Dude, girls aren't all ponies and rainbows," she told me. I raised an eyebrow at her. She groaned. "Okay, fine, fine, _some _are, but at least not me. I actually _like_ guns, for your information. Hence, the earrings."

I rolled my eyes, smiling ironically and leaned back into the couch cushions. "Let me guess, you're one of those feminist girls who are into all the guy things and brag about playing _Black Ops_ all the time."

"Oh, hell no!" she denied quickly. "I _suck_ at video games. Sure, I watched my cousin play them a lot, but that's pretty much the extent of me handling a controller. By liking guns, I mean the actual thing, dumbass."

My eyebrows rose at the name 'dumbass.' "And what do you mean by that?" I asked, still not convinced. "You like watching those crime T.V shows back home and when they shoot bad guys?"

She growled and stood up briskly, smacking me in the back of my head, making me yelp out an 'ow'. "Jerk!" she exclaimed. "My great grandfather was an Army Ranger and my grandpa a Drill Sargent. My dad learned how to shoot, and one day took me to the gun range with him."

I rubbed the back of my head, glaring weakly up at her. "Okay, jeez. Sorry that I doubted you," I mumbled, making her eyes soften and then sit down on the couch, a little bit away from me.

"Sorry, sorry; I didn't mean to be so defensive," she apologized looking down at her hands set in her lap, her voice normal and not as angry-sounding. It seemed like she was going to apologize some more, but then her stature suddenly became straighter as she suddenly turned her head to glare at me. "But you did deserve it. No one tell you not to call a girl girly? It's considered an insult to most girls!"

I smiled at her, shrugging. "Guess I didn't get the memo." She rolled her eyes, making me laugh. "Hey, Ivy?"

"Hey, Noah?" she asked, mocking me.

"Shut up," I muttered, making her giggle a little. At hearing her laugh, a half smile appeared on my lips. "Wanna play a game?"

She raised an eyebrow at me. "Made yourself sound like Jigsaw for a little bit there," she said, making me grin at the remembrance of a horror movie monster's catchphrase. "But sure, why not. What is it?"

"The question game. I ask a question, you answer, then we just trade off from there," I explained, just making her laugh loudly. I glared at her jokingly. "Hey! I barely know anything about you. It's a good way to get to know each other without you being so awkward." She glared at me and I just pointed at her accusingly. "You and I both know it's true!"

And she knows it. When we first reunited she kept babbling nonstop, whenever I try to hold a fun conversation with her, she ends up getting embarrassed for whatever—I don't even know—and ends the conversation. Or she just stays quiet. It's weird how shy she is, but at the same time not shy. She did have the guts to yell at me in front of the entire city of how 'stupid' I was. But once we're under normal circumstances, she can't speak right. What the hell, right?

She tried keeping eye contact with me, but after a while, she admitted defeat, sighing and slumping her shoulders. "Okay, fine, fine, whatever," she said curtly, just a hint of pink on her cheeks. "You first."

I thought for a little bit, wondering what I can ask. I figured I should start easy. "What's your favorite color?" She gave me one of those 'are-you-kidding-me' looks and I just shrugged.

Eventually she answered me. "Obviously purple," she said, pointing at her purple sweater that I didn't even notice she had on. It seemed a bit familiar, and that's when I realized it was the jacket she was wearing when we were pulled in. "And yours?"

"I like green a lot," I answered, and she nodded. I thought for a little bit. "When's your birthday?"

"June 30th," she told me and my eyes widened.

"Hey, that's not too long from now," I realized. "Maybe another week or so."

She cocked her head to the side. "Really?" She looked down at her feet, her eyebrows scrunching up and she looked deep in thought. "Huh. I guess you're right."

She stayed like that for a little bit, staring down at her feet in silence. Did I hit a bad nerve? To try and cheer her up a bit, I bumped her shoulder, making her look up at me. "How old are you turning anyway?"

"Fourteen," she answered and then frowned. "Hey! It was my turn to ask a question."

I grinned. "Sorry."

We stayed like that for a moment in silence semi-awkwardly. I could've been fine with just doing nothing for a little bit (as long as we didn't continue studying) but I guess Ivy felt uncomfortable. She fidgeted slightly and then stood up quickly, pulling her sleeves that were cuffed to her elbows down her arms. She picked up the book she supposedly finished and held it down in front of her.

"I think I should probably return this to Ed and Al." She looked over her shoulder. "Coming with?"

I jumped to my feet. "Yup!" I was overjoyed to get out of this room, surrounded by mounds of books and studying notes that apparently Ivy was more than willing to look over and block out the world with. I was getting fidgety; I needed something to do. We started walking down the halls, continuing our question game. She asked me my birthday (September second), I asked her if she had any siblings and she said that she had a little sister (Naomi) and an older cousin (Jonathan) she considered her brother. I tried asking more about it, but she didn't say anymore of the subject.

Soon enough, we made it to Ed and Al's dorm room. Ivy raised her hand to knock against the wooden door three times. When no respond came, she rolled her eyes and knocked again three times, this time louder. We heard some commotion from behind the door, some shuffling, a little bit of conversation and a loud protest of "Al!" Loud banging footsteps occurred right then, matching something of hollow metal. The door knob jingled and then clicked, opening invitingly.

"Sorry about the wait, guys," Alphonse apologized, motioning us to come forward. "We were a little bit busy."

"I'd think so!" Ivy said, sending him an appreciative smile. "How's Dr. Marcoh's notes been going?"

"Um..." Alphonse looked at me as if I was supposed to do something. I looked around and behind me, wondering if he was actually looking at someone else. Nope. No one behind me. I cleared my throat uncomfortably, looking back at him. When he motioned us back inside, and Ivy stayed firmly in place, I got it.

"How about we go inside?" I asked, not letting Ivy say anything else as I put my hand on her back, walking in and dragging her with me. She fidgeted a little with a few protests of me pushing her in, but really. She was standing in their doorway, shouting about the notes' research, when _obviously_ it was meant to be a secret.

When we finally managed to come in, me and Ivy stopped dead in our tracks. This place was a _mess._ The entire room was covered in stray papers, books, notebooks, crumpled up sheets thrown in corners. On the table was a day old plate of food from the cafeteria; a half eaten burger and some soggy chili fries. It was like they just got an entire recycling bin and just threw and dumped all of its stuff all over the place!

Al laughed sheepishly. "Um, yeah, sorry about the mess."

"_Jeebus_, Alphonse!" Ivy shrieked, staring wide eyed all around her. "What have you two _done_?"

"Oh, shut it." Ed's voice came from nowhere, having me whirl around to where it sounded like it came from. When I turned, I was almost face to face with him, his golden eyes boring into me. But I guess you can't really call it 'face-to-face' exactly. I mean, the guy was pretty short. I was about a good head and a half taller than him. Unlike Ivy, he didn't tilt his chin upward to look up at me. Instead he just looked up at me as much as he could. I admire his pride, but at the same time, it just makes him look smaller.

"Well, what happened?!" Ivy exclaimed, her hands on her hips.

"What do you think? We've been working up until now," he told her, arms crossed defensively. "And you've come here because...?"

Ivy's eyes squinted up at him. "Jeez. Someone's grumpy..." she said, making Ed roll his eyes.

"Well?" he asked.

"I just wanted to check up on you," she replied, somewhat put off at his attitude. She walked over to a certain corner where there was nothing covering the ground, just big enough for someone the size of Ed to sit at. She picked up a stray book, flipping through it. "Find anything yet?"

"Don't touch that!"

She put the book back down quickly, like it was hot and her cheeks burned pink a little bit. "Sorry," she said quickly and then straightened her back, as if remembering she was supposed to do something. "Well, whaddya find? I'm curious!" She went over to a stack of notes and started leafing through them.

"Put that back!"

This time she seemed just a little bit flustered. "Well, what _can_ I look at?" She asked, picking up another book when she set the stack of papers down.

"Definitely not that!"

"Ah, come on!"

They continued on like that for a while, Ivy picking something up that she wasn't supposed to move and Ed yelling at her to put it where she found it. Someway through the thing, she found out that she was pissing Ed off and just kept doing it, just to see his face. I could tell because of the huge grin on her face. It was kind of funny. Alphonse stood next to me, calling to his brother to calm down before he strangled Ivy and reminding him that she was just a girl.

"Brother..." Al sighed, trailing off and slouching in defeat, letting the two just do what they were doing. He glanced at me. "Is she normally this crazy, or she just doing it to bother Brother?"

I laughed, shrugging. "Ivy's weird, yeah, but she's just doing it to mess with him. And I can see why!"

Al seemed like he was trying not to laugh and chuckled instead. "Well, he does get riled up pretty easily." We just stood like that, looking after our person to make sure none of the teasing went too far. Eventually though, Ivy let up and Ed actually started explaining what they were finding, after smacking Ivy in the back of her head for payback. She glared weakly at him back, but her curiosity won out as she conceded her teasing and waited for him to start explaining.

"So, how do you know Ivy, anyway?" Al asked, studying me with his head slightly tilted.

I glanced back at him, leaning on the wall behind me. "Really want to know?" I asked, smiling at the memory. "Ivy was getting bothered by these two drunk guys and I saved her. She thought I was a pervert though and threatened me with a knife."

Al's red orbs got all wide. "_What_?! That doesn't sound like her!"

I shrugged, grinning. "I know, right? She was pretty convincing at playing the tough girl, though. I backed into the street to make sure she didn't 'cut me'." Seeing his weird look at the choice of words, I put my hands up in surrender. "Her words, not mine," I said quickly, putting the air quotes around it. "Apparently she saw a car when I didn't and pulled me back onto the sidewalk before I got hit."

"That was really fortunate that you didn't get hit, then," Al said. "You guys must go back far, huh?"

"Nope," I responded making Al look at me strangely. "After she saved me, we went to the library because that's where we were actually going before all that stuff happened. Interesting enough, that was where—"

"That was the day you guys were sent here?" he cut me off, his voice just a little bit quieter. I was silent for a little bit after that, the only other noise Ed and Ivy talking. I glanced once at her, who had her eyebrows scrunched up in concentration and gnawing on her bottom lip. I switched my sights back to my beat up shoes.

"Yep," I answered, making my face smile wryly. "We just met, basically."

Al paused, as if he were searching for the right words to say. "But..."

"Hm?"

"But the way Ivy was so set on finding you...it gave me the impression that you guys were really close, or something to that affect," he said, making me look back at Ivy questionably. At this point she seemed really confused, her face frowning slightly with wide eyes as she struggled to understand what Ed was saying. Was she really _that_ worried about me? I guess I was worried too, but at the same time...Ugh, she was so weird. I'll never understand her.

Suddenly the door slammed open, a man's voice ringing through merrily. "Edward, Alphonse! Long time no see, right?" the man's voice called out, footsteps stomping across the floor. We all looked up to see a guy who seemed to be in his late twenties, maybe early thirties come on out. He had a scruffy beard and spiky black hair with glasses framed over his hazel eyes. He was also dressed in that typical navy blue military crap that everyone (besides us, obviously) wore. He basically invited himself in, grinning madly with a photograph held tightly in his hand. He nearly mowed me over on his way to Al that I had to smash myself in the wall I was leaning on.

"H-hey!"

"OH ALPHONSE, LOOK AT THIS NEW PICTURE OF ELYCIA! ISN'T SHE JUST ADORABLE?"

Just as the man was shoving the photograph in Al's face, Ed got a big grin. "Nice to see you again, Major!" Al got out before his attention was turned to Ed.

"Edward! Do you wanna see too? She's positively delightful! Me and Gracia just bought her new pink bows!" he babbled, kissing the picture affectionately.

He ran a hand through his blonde bangs before he set his other hand on his side. "You're just the same, Major. Nice and insane."

It seemed like he was about to say something else when he caught sight of me in the corner of his eye. He turned to me completely, looking me up and down. For some reason I felt like I needed to be somewhat presentable. I managed to straighten out my posture and dropped my arms to my sides, realizing they were crossed for some reason, raising my head to look the guy in the eye. His damn glasses glared in the light though so I couldn't see his eyes. Dammit.

"And who may you be?" the guy asked, his cheerfulness gone almost.

Alphonse stiffened in surprise. "Oh! Sorry, Major! This is—"

"Noah Shasta." I cut Al off, sticking out my hand like the damn gentleman I was. "Nice to meet ya."

The guy took a firm grip of my hand. "I'm Maes Hughes. Likewise," he replied and I nodded, releasing my hand. All of a sudden though, his grin was back and something was shoved in my face and I took a few steps back only to find myself slamming into the wall behind me. "Then in THAT case you haven't seen my dear Elycia yet have you?! Here she is! Isn't she just the CUTEST?!"

"W-what the hell?!" I exclaimed, having to cross my eyes in order to see the photograph in front of me. There was a girl at about three, hugging a teddy bear. And sure as shit, she had pink bows in her hair just like he was yelling earlier. I managed to duck under his hand and side step away. Unfortunately though, there was so much crap on the floor that I slipped on the papers underneath me and fell flat on my ass.

"Noah!" I heard Ivy's squeak as she knelt down next to me, trying to help me up. I shrugged off her help and stood up, her coming up with me. I looked up to see the Hughes guy staring kind of wide eyed at me and I raised a brow ready to tell him off about it. But when I found his sight path, his stare was locked on Ivy instead. He quickly changed it though and Ivy looked like she saw a ghost. She took a shaky breath in and then smiled at him, bowing quickly like Al does sometimes.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Hughes. I'm Ivy Thompson," she introduced herself, her voice soft. Softer than usual.

Hughes smiled at her, nodding his head back at her like a response to her bow. "Nice to meet you as well. Sorry for not introducing myself to you; you're just about as small as Edward over there—"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL THAT HE RIDES MICE LIKE HORSES?"

"—that I didn't see you," he continued as if Ed didn't say anything. He gave him and Al a pointed look. "And you didn't introduce these two to me before _because_...?"

"Sorry, Mr. Hughes. We've been a little busy," Alphonse apologized, rubbing the back of his head.

"I can see that," Hughes laughed offhandedly, gazing around at the mess. His gaze grew hard somewhat, and his voice turned low and serious as he regarded both of me and Ivy. "And not to offend or anything, but who exactly are you two?"

We shared a quick glance at Ed and Al, not knowing how to reply to that one. I wasn't so sure who this guy was exactly, and I'm not sure Ivy knew either, so it was definitely _not_ okay to tell him about our situation. I opened my mouth and then closed it, figuring whatever I say probably wouldn't help anything until I start to know all of what Ivy knows. Hell, it might make it even worse.

"My father was an alchemist in his days," Ivy piped up quickly, making all of us look at her. "Edward and Alphonse tried to contact him, seeing as his knowledge would benefit their research."

Ed didn't skip a beat and jumped right onto Ivy's lie. "Unfortunately, the guy's dead. So we brought back the next best thing: his daughter," he said, gesturing at her. "She needs help with her own problems too, so we made an Equivalent Exchange. She helps us and we help her." Al nodded to confirm it.

"Huh," Hughes said, buying their quick made-up story. He looked at me. "And you...?"

I opened my mouth to reply with something related to what they came up with but Ivy quickly cut me off. "He's an amnesiac," she said quickly, making me snap my head to her.

Excuse me?

"He—"

"I was a close family friend," I replied smoothly, cutting Ivy off and kind of pissed at her making me a fake mentally sick person. I sent a side-long glance at her shocked face. "Well, or so I've been told." I looked back to Hughes. "I can't remember much of my past. I'm just trying to figure out who I was. Ed and Al said they could help me, so I tagged along."

I could tell I threw her off at my own makeshift story for being here, but too bad. She hasn't told me jack-squat of what the hell I'm supposed to do, be doing, or how to help out. It was like she just shoved me aside and tried to babysit my every move just because I didn't know all that much about the stupid show. I could take care of myself just fine, dammit.

"I'm so sorry," Hughes said sympathetically, like he really was sorry about my 'amnesia'. I had to hold back my scowl at the pity in his eyes at that. I _hated_ it when people pitied me. "What about your mother? Surely she could have gone to help the boys in place of you."

The question was directed at Ivy and she snorted a little. "My mother couldn't help them," she said straightly and then she blinked, remembering she had to stay with the story. "I mean, she really couldn't. She's not here."

Hughes' brows shot up into his forehead. "No mother too? I'm sorry for your losses," he said sincerely again. It took all it had in me not to laugh, as cruel as it sounded. What she said wasn't technically a lie. Her mom really wasn't _here_. It was just taken as if her parents were dead. "Then where are you two staying then? A close friend? Aunt, uncle maybe?"

Ivy shifted a little. I wanted to save her and say something else, but I didn't want to be pitied anymore. I hated pity, and any answer that would be plausible right now would probably cause him to pity us even more. "Um, we're actually staying in the HQ dorms here."

Hughes frowned big time. "That is not acceptable." He glared at Ed and Al, turning to them quickly. "You let these two kids stay here in the stuffy, dusty HQ _dorms_? Nonetheless the girl?! God, boys! Have you no conscience?" Ed and Al shifted uncomfortably, staring down at their feet in embarrassment. Me and Ivy shared a glance. What was so wrong about the dorms? Hughes turned back to us, actually Ivy, walking up so he was directly in front of her and squatted down, making himself eye level with her. "I'm so sorry for their rudeness. Making a little girl like you stay in those dorms." He snorted, shaking his head. "With no one to look after you?"

At that, Ivy's eyes widened like plates. "Oh, no! No, no Mr. Hughes! You've got the wrong idea! It's not like...it's not what you think!" she said, her cheeks burning bright pink. "I'm about to turn fourteen!"

I think that was the widest Hughes' eyes could get. "Oh! Are you really?" he scratched his beard and looked away, a little embarrassed. "I'm sorry; I assumed that you were...a lot younger than that."

I wanted to burst out laughing _so_ badly right then. She waved her hands in front of her laughing nervously, her eye twitching slightly to show her annoyance at it. "No, it's fine! Really!" She smiled very forcefully, her hands clenching into angry fists. "A few people made that mistake already," she said through her teeth, still trying to be polite, one of those anime vein-bulge-anger-mark thing appearing and twitching in her forehead.

Hughes stood up, laughing nervously as well, scratching at his stubble. "No, really, I am very sorry about that," he fake-coughed, like a subject changer. "How about as an apology you can stay with me and my wife? Even if just for a few nights, we would be more than happy to house you. I can guarantee my home is much more comfortable than the dorm rooms. Please," he glanced at me. "you both can stay as long as you'd like."

I shook my head, smiling politely, "Nah, that's okay. Thanks for the offer though."

Ivy nodded, agreeing with me. "Yeah, I wouldn't want to be a burden or anything."

"No, it's perfectly fine!" he exclaimed, his grin back.

Ivy tried to shake her head. "You really don't have to, Mr. Hughes—"

"Oh, I insist!" he barked happily, hands on his hips, grin on his lips. "So, it's settled! You two will stay with me and my family for at least a couple of nights. I'm sure my wife won't mind, and Elycia would just love to have a few more playmates!"

"Mr. Hughes—"

"Pack your belongings and I'll meet you two at the front of HQ!"

The door slammed shut.

Ivy was the first one to talk after that. "What...just happened?"

I sighed leaning back on the wall again, crossing my arms over my chest. "You played the pity card, and now the guy feels sorry for us."

"But I—"

"The Major is just trying to be nice, Ivy," Alphonse interjected kindly, cutting her off. "He means well, but sometimes has a weird way of showing it."

Edward crossed his arms over his chest too. "So, are you going to explain all that back there or what?"

Ivy didn't flinch at his tone of voice. She just returned his serious tone. "That's the story from now on if anyone asks about me and Noah, okay? I was thinking about it for a while now, and Mr. Roy and Ms. Riza aren't going to cover for us all the time, and neither are you two. All that would just be constant different lies that we have to remember for each individual person. This story covers why we're here, and why we hang out with you two." She looked at me. "If you want to add onto your story, you can, but try not to make it too complex. Keep it simple. That way if we're questioned, we don't seem suspicious."

I nodded. "I was thinking the same thing actually. I was going to talk to you about that."

After that, she looked back at the door where Hughes left from. She stared for a while and then bit her lip nervously, making me raise an eyebrow. She turned her head back around to Ed and Al, keeping her face expressionless as possible. "And don't tell Mr. Hughes anything about Dr. Marcoh's notes or of what you find. Don't tell anyone. If you have to tell someone, it can only be me, Noah, Mr. Roy and Ms. Riza."

They looked surprised. "Why not?" Al asked. She looked down at her shoes worriedly.

"I'm assuming it's about the timeline of the story?" I asked Ivy and she snapped her head to me, eyes wide. She righted herself though and blinked, making her face emotionless again. She nodded.

"Yeah. Just..." she swallowed, "trust me," she said, a catch in her voice that only I noticed. I studied her for a little bit in confusion. She spoke almost like she was begging them. "Don't tell Mr. Hughes anything. As far as he knows, you're just researching up on the Philosopher's Stone."

Ed and Al nodded like they understood.

* * *

**Ivy: Huh. I'm starting to be more like you every chapter.**

**Me: ^-^ See? Told ya I'd fix it, Other Me.**

**Ivy: I guess you did, Real Me.**

**Noah: ...You two are so weird.**

**Me and Ivy: *Voices all sing-songy* THANK YOU! **

**Noah: Don't forget to review guys!**

**Ivy: Me and Noah will give ya hugs if you do!**

**Noah: Wha-?! When did I agree to that!**

**Me: *sulking* I want a Noah hug...**


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